As part of the economic activity of the state, the concept of the ‘Public Plate’ is synonymous with sustainable public food procurement, where sustainable development outcomes of democracy and social justice are brought about through the provision of healthy nutritious food and localised supply chains, within a moral economy guided by an ethic of care. The economic activities of the state are also concerned with how public services are designed, delivered and accounted for, as governance. This research explores these issues through a study of the governance of nutritional care in hospital settings, the national context of Wales providing the focus for sustainable development outcomes. By examining the historical development of sustainability and healthcare governance in Wales and adopting a critical realist perspective, the research departs from the focus of existing studies on ‘what’ needs to be done, and aims to understand ‘how’ change has been brought about. The research finds that emerging structures for nutritional care in hospitals have been planned, designed and adapted over time, through leadership, learning and collaboration. Equity provides a guide for action, linking individual patients’ needs and outcomes, whilst values of dignity and respect guide activities of caring. Quality, patient experience and safety provide evidence of outcomes from those care processes as effectiveness. Effectiveness therefore becomes the driver of efficiency and efficiency drives lowest cost, resulting in best value outcomes. Variations in outcomes in practice lead to the proposition that the mechanism enabling and constraining change is that of capabilities, as an integrative concept linking structural empowerment with both cognitive and behavioural conditions. The challenges to governance are identified within best value as the need to reduce, rather than constrain costs, of particular concern in publicly funded healthcare systems where the demand for care, already in excess of supply, is expected to increase.

This study contributes to the growing cross-cultural body of literature of globalised consumer behaviour with pecific to CCT within the discipline of consumer research addressing the consumer identity of consumption. It explores the role of social influences in explaining consumer behaviour of a specific ethnic minority group in Malaysia (i.e. the Chinese Malaysians) during the celebration of the Lunar New Year. Specifically, this study aims to investigate the consumption celebration of the Reunion Dinner through its cultural significance within the multicultural Malaysian context especially of the Chinese Malaysian. Its objectives are to explore the ritual of the consumption, beyond the frame of economics or psychology but from the view of cultural meanings within the contextual, symbolic and experiential of consumption from acquisition to consumption and disposition. The theoretical guidance for this study which is parallel with CCT incorporates the lenses of social anthropology and consumer behaviour, which is based on interpretive and ethnographic approaches. Data was collected from forty in-depth interviews, participant observation, photographs over three years to provide a schema of analyses. The findings reveal variations of the celebration consumption from the participants, place, time and activities with negotiations made across age, gender and social status. Four central themes came to light as integral components of the celebrationconsumption experience in addressing the consumers’ identity and its identification through namely solidarity, symbolism, self-concept and play among ethnic subculture members. Firstly identity is negotiated through solidarity likened to the western identity with thanksgiving; bonding in preparation; time for all and reconnection; inclusion of ancestors, deities, friends and relatives; appropriation of food; and pragmatism of time and venue for the gathering. Secondly, identity is associated with symbolism derived from the meanings of: time; food and actions of gifting; and prayers to taboos. Thirdly, the concept of self-identity is reflected in the projection of future self; the role of mother, wife, daughter-in-law, and children; social identity and interdependent of self. Lastly, the phenomenology of play due to the liminal essence of standing between the threshold of old and new, is manifested through food, gifts and gambling as the ritual is being re-experienced through an imagined construction of reality and new identity. The findings of this study generate implications for theorists and practitioners within the context of the identity of the consumers in the construction, maintenance and negotiation of identity is often used to maintain the sense of identity through time as it defines oneself in relationship to other people. This study validates the knowledge of culture that is continuously produced, reproduced and negotiated within the CCT constructs from the ethnic subculture consumption perspective. Keywords: culture, consumption, ritual, identity, ethnic, subculture, solidarity,symbolism, self-concept, play Chinese, Consumer Culture Theory (CCT).

This thesis investigates deeper influences that contribute to the way organisational leadership is practiced, taking a social, cultural and collective point of view. Three different theoretical perspectives are drawn on: the work of Kurt Lewin and field theory shows that underlying forces exist, describing organising principles that are not under the control of human intention; the work of Carl Jung and the collective unconscious explains leadership at a deep archetypal level; the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu help to explain how leadership is established and maintained through social interaction and social fields—symbolic power, habitus and doxa. A narrative methodology provided the framework for interviewing participants on their leadership experiences. Two research groups consisted of (A) 17 corporate leaders, comprising 3 men and 14 women, (B) 6 organisational consultants, comprising 5 men and 1 woman. A set of questions based on the three theoretical perspectives, was used to analyse the data. A difference between leadership thinking and leadership in practice was found. Descriptions of leadership were individualistic and direction-giving, compared to narratives of leadership experiences which revealed relational, inclusive and collaborative leadership practices. A predominance of role model learning was also found. The concept of eclipsing is used to describe how relational, inclusive and collaborative practices are overshadowed by conventional leadership thinking. Field theory shows how dynamic fields influence eclipsing behaviour beneath the surface of intentional action. A Jungian perspective explains eclipsing as a hidden compensatory process within the dyadic relationship of the masculine and the feminine. Bourdieuian ideas explain how conventional leadership thinking is in the habitus of social interaction, and how symbolic power of leaders is a dynamic force in organisational systems. This thesis adds to the debate on ‘where leadership is situated’, offering new insight to conventional leadership theory, and advances thinking in relational and distributed leadership.

The thesis is a qualitative ethnographic study which examines the interaction between the operation of informal social control and de-industrialisation, in the context of austerity measures and public sector retrenchment. Drawing theoretical and methodological insights from the Chicago School, which argued that population churn and competing value systems in the ‘zone of transition’ inhibited the transmission of pro-social values (Shaw and McKay, 1947), this research develops these insights in a setting where these phenomena are absent in order to understand the implications of this changed context for informal social control. This study develops a definition of informal social control past its traditional focus on crime and anti-social behaviour and towards the control of actors and behaviours which are deemed socially problematic due to their transgression of local cultures of decency and respectability. This localised culture of respectability is itself the product of a shared identity and collective memory of hardship in a stable community where these values have been transmitted. This research builds out of an inductive examination of what residents viewed as the key issues facing them, namely combating a spoiled identity which was drawn from stigmatising media depictions of poverty and which painted all residents as being ‘workshy’. The implications for future research build on the construction of ‘decent’ identities in the post-industrial context and the ways in which identity is managed and renegotiated in an environment where even respectable individuals experience spoiled identities. It uncovers hidden orders within a seemingly disorganised community and demonstrates the extent to which state-based theories of crime control cannot account for levels of conformity to pro-social normative orders. In the ‘age of austerity’ this study highlights the importance of further research into the conditions under which this conformity may break down across a variety of different contexts.

The study is divided into three parts. Part One consists of two chapters in which I situate the study theoretically and reflect on the personal consequences of the subsequent methodological undertaking. Chapter 1 introduces the conceptual and contextual frameworks utilised throughout this research. In it I chart the history of ethnographic educational research, from the Chicago School to the emergence of critical ethnography through the seminal work of the Birmingham-based CCCS, before rounding off by highlighting contemporary approaches offering new insights on the cultural landscape of social class inequalities. The current state of educational research in Ireland will also be touched upon, as I introduce the national setting for the comparative element of this study, which forms the location of the school in which I conducted further fieldwork. I also discuss the contemporary relevance of the concept of 'inclusive education' and contextualise its relevance in relation to a study of this nature. Chapter 2 presents a reflexive account of how the research conducted for this study was actually carried out, concentrating on my early forays into the field as a fledgling school ethnographer in the English setting of Bridgepoint High school. The chapter focuses on this initial stage of the enquiry because this is when the pitfalls and dilemmas associated with researching people in real world settings confront one for the first time, leading to a strategy of reflexive engagement that subsequently shaped and informed the comparative fieldwork in Ireland. Part Two contains two chapters that form the comparative case study element of this research. Chapter 3 offers a detailed description of life at Bridgepoint High, a large state-run secondary school situated on the Bridgepoint estate in the northeastern city of Crownport. In addition to describing the social and economic conditions that prevail on the estate, the chapter looks at the way that constant testing and surveillance combines with the pressures of the contemporary education market to privilege a meritocratic IQ-ism that results in a deficit-based attitude towards its pupils. A culture of interactional hostility and disillusionment with formal education is found to be a pervasive feature of Bridgepoint school experience, with largely negative consequences for everyone concerned. Chapter 4 presents a case study of secondary education in the Republic of Ireland, represented by St. Oliver's Community College in the coastal city of Cove. Again, the chapter details the local surroundings and points to similarities not just in the two cities themselves but also on the estates where the schools are located. However, in sharp contrast to Bridgepoint High, St. Oliver's was discovered to be a radically different kind of establishment, appearing on the surface to operate a more strict discipline code, but actually offering a calm, conducive and welcoming atmosphere characterised by surprisingly cordial social relations. The pressures of credentialism appear equally strong here too, but the willingness of staff to find alternate ways to celebrate pupil achievement, allied to shared investments in a positively ascribed local identity, are found to be at the heart of the outstanding sense of community witnessed at the school. Part Three consists of three chapters, forming the 'analysis' section of the study. Chapter 5 attempts to explain what I see as the reasons why Bridgepoint High school is not 'successful', both in the official terms proscribed by current government education policy, and in terms of the quality of school experience that it provides for its teachers and young people. Here, I point to the reinvigorated culture of 'machismo' exhibited by staff and pupils, partly as a rearticulated and insecure response to the diminished status of traditional forms of working-class, masculinity, and as a consequence of the 're-masculinizing' tendencies inherent in emerging forms of teacher subjectivities under the managerial regime of 'continuous improvement'. A school culture of strident homophobia, racism and compulsory heterosexuality is shown to present insurmountable barriers to improving school-based relations, without which the young people of the Bridgepoint estate will continue to prematurely disengage from education. Chapter 6 presents a comparative analysis of how the two schools differed in their approach towards educating the young people in their charge, paying particular attention to the many similarities in structural constraint both schools faced, and yet pointing to the varied responses within the schools to the challenges posed by these constraints. Chapter 7 offers a complimentary analytical perspective to that in Chapter 5, this time presenting a thorough explanation of the reason why St. Oliver's Community College was found by all of those involved, including staff, pupils and the local community of which it is very much an integral part, to be in every respect a 'successful' school, despite its relatively lowly status. While highlighting the substantial contribution that a 'Catholic' outlook on schooling undoubtedly plays in generating congenial working relationships between teachers and pupils, I also highlight the strategy of affirming value in locality as a major reason why the school has developed such strong links with the surrounding community. Ultimately, celebrating one's sense of belonging in a particular place is argued to have a huge impact on the self-confidence and esteem of pupils who responded by sharing ownership of St. Oliver's in a shining example of the potential offered by inclusive education. Finally, a brief Conclusion summarises the findings of the research and offers some tentative suggestions on how English schools, despite the policy constraints they face, need to apply a more community-centred model of schooling attuned to ensuring that people's concerns and realities are put at the centre of the educational agenda. Only then would members of those communities perceive themselves as active citizens, with their different ways of knowing valued as a resource in the shared enterprise of learning.

This study examines issues pertaining to the socio-economic integration of immigrants in Greece. Its focus is on two localities of the greater Athens area, Piraeus and Korydallos, and on three immigrant communities: Albanians, East Europeans and Asians. The research is set within the context of debates about immigration and integration, and more specifically within the economic, social and ethno-cultural context of Greece. This approach, which primarily recognises the specific significance of the host country’s structures, perceives immigrants as dynamic actors that develop competition strategies in the context of their own cultural references and sense-making. Through this perspective, it is argued that immigrants develop autonomous individual and/or collective integration strategies, which are largely a result of the bottom-up interaction of immigrants with both the native population and the sociopolitical institutions of the host country, at the local level. This thesis is the outcome of fieldwork research that involved probability quota sampling of 270 immigrants from Albania, Asia and Eastern Europe, interviewed in person using a structured questionnaire, with some room for collecting qualitative data. It examines the level of socio-economic integration of immigrants by applying quantitative methods (construction of the integration index, the use of one-way ANOVA, independent samples t-test and multiple linear regression analysis), and descriptive analysis. The integration indicators include: employment, housing, use of the Greek language, social interaction, social and political participation, self-evaluation of integration, and racism and discrimination. The findings provide an empirical account of the level of integration of immigrants, revealing a significant degree of heterogeneity among communities, a factor that has unavoidably conditioned integration patterns. East Europeans display the highest level of partial integration in comparison to the other immigrant groups. Albanians appear relatively stable at the level of partial integration, while the Asians display a marginal integration pattern. The integration index of socio-economic integration stands at the level of partial integration. The multiple linear regression analysis shows that citizenship, years of residence and educational are significant predictors of integration levels. The empirical findings corroborate the hypothesis of differentiated exclusion in the integration process of immigrants, with the relevant policies leaving room for partial integration only. Furthermore, the study suggests that the limited range of the state’s institutional intervention appears to offer increased space for local and individual micro-processes, confirming that micro-level practices and strategies of the immigrants themselves are the most effective channels in shaping the phenomenon of socio-economic integration.

This thesis examines dominant feminist discourses emerging from liberal media, the academy, and activist networks in contemporary Britain. In particular, it traces stories and representations of feminism’s recent past (from the 1960s onwards) which are constructed and reproduced through these sites, analysing where and how issues related to race and racism are located within - and outside of - such narratives. It is based on empirical research analysing popular, academic, and activist books, newspaper articles in The Guardian and The Observer, as well as interviews with feminist activists and students of women’s and gender studies courses. Given that there is an extensive history of women of colour-led organising in post-war Britain, including an autonomous black women’s movement in the 1970s and ’80s, and the growth at this time of black British feminism both within and outside of the academy, the thesis interrogates dominant narratives which continue to construct British feminism as a story belonging to white women. Drawing on black and postcolonial feminist theory, it analyses the articulations of feminist politics emerging from these sites through an anti-racist lens. It demonstrates that the way the historical narratives are constructed and gain currency has a significant influence on contemporary feminist theory and politics, with whiteness reproduced as the hegemonic lens through which British feminism is understood. The thesis argues that white feminist racism haunts the dominant narrative of British feminism – as something which is repeatedly erased or evaded each time it is brought to view – and it calls for white feminist academics and activists to reckon with the long history of racism and imperialism which has been integral to the British feminist project since its inception.

The submission, comprising nine outputs, ranges from journal articles and a book to a podcast and a radio programme. The accompanying commentary aims to contextualise the submitted work, demonstrate that it constitutes a coherent whole and that it makes a significant, original contribution to the field of cultural studies. The submission and commentary contest the idea that the voice has become less important than text and image in an era that has come to be known as one of 'secondary orality'. The outputs set out to demonstrate that, although metaphorical and narrative meanings of 'voice' have come to displace a sense of the audible voice in popular discourse as well as in many scholarly texts, it remains a prime and powerful modality in both human communication and new technologies. Applying the approach of psycho-social studies to the voice in a novel and original way, the outputs draw on semi-structured interviews, archive research and cultural analysis to argue that, despite the discursive absence of the audible voice, a study of vocality can enrich our understanding of both face-to-face and electronically-mediated communication. The commentary describes the phenomenological orientation of the outputs. Using the interdisciplinary approach of psycho-social studies to explore aspects of the cultural sphere, the submission is thus situated in the emerging strand of psycho-cultural studies: the commentary argues that, despite the methodological problems this throws up, it constitutes a valuable and apt addition to the study of voice. It suggests that gendered ideas of the voice may lead to an essentialism that can be countered by understanding the voice as a medium for the performativity of gender. Challenging the common polarisation of eye and ear and the idealisation of the voice, it traces some ways in which the voice is culturally-constituted, especially the radio and cinematic voice. The appendix documents not only the outputs' origins but also their wide impact.

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This study examines the transitions to adulthood of a group of 19 young women of mixed age, social class and ethnic backgrounds, from two adjacent ‘outer-urban’ neighbourhoods in the post-industrial city of Birmingham, UK. It focuses on three distinct, and inter-related, spheres of transition: education and training, employment and independent household formation, including family of origin, housing, couple relationships, marriage and motherhood. Using the concepts of reflexivity, the appearance of choice and intersectionality, the study aims to shed light on the role of individual agency and structural inequalities in shaping the research participants’ (RPs’) life chances. It examines how RPs interpreted their available 'choices', the structural constraints - related to gender, social class and ethnicity - they encountered, and the strategies they employed during their transitions. An intersectional approach illuminates the multiple, co-constituted, ways in which gender, social class and ethnicity operated in RPs’ lives. Using a critical ethnographic research methodology, data was gathered through participation observation at a local youth centre and repeated semi-structured interviews with RPs, over a 20-month period. Additionally, several one-off interviews were conducted with practitioners to build a picture of the context in which RPs lived their lives. The findings indicate that while RPs frequently articulated notions of choice, their actual options were often heavily bounded. Structural constraints related to gender, social class and ethnicity shaped many aspects of their experiences of compulsory and post-compulsory education, the labour market, and transitions from familial dependence to independent households. Despite this, RPs consistently strove to make the ‘right’ choices to achieve positive life outcomes. Although this included remaining flexible in the face of uncertain futures, diverse opportunities, constraints and subsequent strategies were observed along social class and ethnic lines. This study is relevant to sociologists, journalists, policy makers and others interested in the experiences of young women growing up in materially disadvantaged areas, in the context of widening inequality. The findings illustrate that an intersectional approach enables a more nuanced understanding of young women’s transitions to adulthood in the post-industrial city. This makes a compelling case to incorporate intersectional approaches into the study of youth transitions more widely.