No description available.

No description available.

The current research presents a series of papers which have been designed to test the TMT contention that mortality concerns precipitate intergroup bias and prejudice. In addition the research also examined whether terrorism salience produces similar effects. The paper presented in Chapter 2 (Study 1) first illustrated that terrorism salience manipulations .constructed' from media coverage of the events of September 11th 2001 induced mortality salience. Furthennore this paper (Study' 2) demons~tes that mortality salience, but not terrorism salience, precipitated less favourable attitudes towards a racially proud Black outgroup member. However neither mort~lity salience nor terrorism salience was found to influence ratings of a racially proud Arabic out-group member or a racially proud White ingroup member. It is proposed that the null fmdings with regard to the Arabic author might be attributable to the fact that. exposure to this target evoked mortality salience, and empirical evidence in support of this view is presented (Study 3). The paper presented in Chapter' 3 explores whether mortality salience and / or terrorism salience influence contemporary measures of prejudiced attitudes. Study 1 found no evidence that mortality salience or terrorism salience impact upon prejudiced attitudes towards 'foreigners' as measured by th,e subtle and blatant prejudice scales (pettigrew & Meertens, 1995). Study 2 however, revealed that mortality salience lead those participants who value tolerance to express'more favo.urable attitudes towards 'asylum seekers' as measured by the mod~m racism scale (McConahay, 1986). No such effects were found for terrorism salience and it is proposed that this may be attributable to the terrorism sali~nce manipulation used. The paper presented in Chapter 4 therefore used media based coverage of the July 7tD. 2005 London bombings to manipulate terrorism salience. Accordingly, Study 1 illustrated that exposure to this manipulation served to induce mortality salience. Study 2 employed an, implicit measure of attitude and demonstrated that terrorism salience led to less positive attitudes towards Arabic out-group members. This effect however was onlYfound among participants who did not place a high value on tolerance and no such effects were found in conditions of mortality salience. The limitations of these fmdings, and the implications of them for TMT, terrorism salience and intergroup relations are discussed in the final chapter.

Over the last two decades, social scientists have pointed out that social action has become disembedded from the constrains of time and' space (Giddens 1991). New means of transportation and telecommunication created an environment of time-simultaneous global interaction. Some authors described contemporary social life as neither grounded in physical space nor in time (Castells 2000). However, although social actions organise and are organised by multi-directional, time-simultaneous global flows, much of every day life has remained locally grounded. The rela'tionship between these poles, the local on one hand and the global on the other hand, has come to the limelight of the sociological debate. The following researc:l developed from a participant observation which I carried out between 2002 and 2005 in the inner city quarter Belsunce in the French Mediterranean port city Marseilles. My research has two aims. I firstly attempt to move place back into the forefront of social research. I argue that. Belsunce-Marseilles is nodal point in the French-Algerian transnational social space. Secondly, the' research focuses on the everyday life interactions ' taking place in Belsunce. I argue that local and trans-local interactions overlap in the quarter and create a dynamic social environment that integrates actors with heterogeneous motivations, diverse ethnic belongings, and varying spatial practices. These local interactions become resources for further transnational exchanges. The local and global are intrinsically linked in place.

This thesis is an investigation and exploration of lay people's beliefs and attitudes about mental health and illness. The literature review reveals that there is a dearth of research examining lay people's beliefs and attitudes to mental disorder and that there is an emphasis on employing epidemiological surveys highlighting the gaps in knowledge. The theoretical framework employed was that of social constructionism. A qualitative method was used to collect data from a purposeful sample of ten men and twelve women (aged between seventeen and eighty two), from a range of diverse social backgrounds. During the interviews, vignettes were also used as a vehicle to explore the participants capacity to identify mental health problems. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using a narrative analysis framework. The findings are clustered into four major themes The first theme explores how lay people construct and conceptualise the major mental disorders and describes their attitudes and beliefs. The second theme describes the experiences of four participants who through the course of the interviews revealed their role in dealing with emotional d~stress as part of the day to day work. The third theme demonstrated how lay knowledge is often congruent or complements that of the 'professional body' of knowledge. Finally theme four demonstrates that mental disorder is an issue that is interwoven through the lives of many of the participants and that is an 'everyday issue' . The findings of the thesis suggest that contrary to the literature, lay people's views about mental health and illness are complex and idiosyncratic but often their notions are drawn from their personal experiences and encounters with people who have experienced a mental disorder. The findings also suggest that lay people recognise the stigma and prejudice that is apparent in society for people with a mental disorder but often they ascribe the blame onto 'other people'. The implications of the thesis are discussed in relation to the value of lay people's beliefs, the importance of mental health promotion, the ~elationship of biomedicine and lay people's beliefs and the value of informal care for emotional distress.

No description available.

This thesis examines the perceived benefits of sport for ethnic minority young people in the context of social exclusion. The broad constructs of social exclusion, are examined whilst drawing together evidence of how individuals experience exclusion in contemporary Britain. Throughout reference is made specifically to a broad spectrum of ethnic minorities and the experiences they endure due to the distinctive combination of socio-economic factors and race. The claim that sport has the potential to address social exclusion through empowering individuals and creating community cohesion is examined. The link between education and exclusion is regarded as one of the key determinants with the potential to either positively or adversely affect the likelihood of ethnic minorities becoming excluded (Parekh, 2000). Therefore understanding the relationship between education and exclusion is key in examining the claim that sport can be used to address social exclusion in a group who are more likely to be excluded from both sport and education in the first place. In order to achieve the research aim a mixed method approach was utilised. By combining a flavour of grounded theory modelling, plus adopting a critical realist stance, provided an opportunity for the subject matter to be recorded and analysed in order to gain an understanding of social life and interaction. The research was carried out within the Arches School Sports Partnership in north Sheffield. By contextualising the programme, it was possible to investigate the young peoples responses and understandings of the sport within these parameters, identify and interview key stakeholders, sports deliverers and community practitioners. Additionally the views of the young people from a range of ethnic minorities were sought through a questionnaire and more detailed interviews. The results of the study illustrated the diverse range of views expressed by individuals. The ethnic minority young people revealed a greater degree of diversity in relation to hyphenated identities, which was closely linked to role or place of religion in their lives, particularly for the Muslims. All of the young people, regardless of their ethnicity, perceived exclusion as part of their lives in one form or another, which was expressed in diverse first-hand experiences, stemming from anti-social behaviour. Their perceptions of the use of sport to tackle wider social issues was the most negative response of all those interviewed. Whilst they believed there is a correlation between sport and social exclusion, and, along with other structured activities, could potentially positively affect their lives, in that if they had more to do in their spare time they would they be less susceptible to being involved in anti-social behaviour and thereby being excluded from society. The adults demonstrated a range in levels of knowledge and understanding of exclusion and how it may affect young people. However, whilst the deliverers were very positive about sport s potential use, citing a strong positive correlation between involvement in sport and improved behaviour management they believed multi-agency working and a variety of different agendas, were a potential conflict to successful outcomes from all young people. In comparison community practitioners were very knowledgeable about exclusion issues and generally positive of sport's potential use, though were keen to promote a multi-agency approach in order to achieve success, and expressed scepticism about sport being used as a purely diversionary tactic In addition to diversity within each group, there were also differences between the perceptions of understandings of young people and adults, demonstrating the degree of diversity in the research findings.

No description available.

This thesis explores the empowerment of women in a social movement, the Kanagawa Seikatsu Club Movement, in Japan. The discourse on women's empowerment has tended to concentrate on projects in the development context and has usually focused on personal empowerment, even when collective empowerment is taken into account (Rowlands, 1997). However, this research shows that women's involvement in a social movement can be a powerful mechanism for their empowerment because of the generation of collective empowerment, even though this is not the purpose of the movement. It also highlights the fact that not only are there positive interactions between the different dimensions of empowerment, personal, relational and collective, but there are also conflicts between them. Interpretations of women's movements based on their traditional roles and identities as wives and mothers are divided as to whether they reinforce or challenge the position of women. The Kanagawa Seikatsu Club Movement is almost forty years old and most of its members are full-time housewives. It provides an excellent opportunity to show how activism based on their traditional gender roles and identities can empower women over time. This thesis develops an analytical explanation, based on a discussion of the public/private dichotomy, to show how the contradictions inherent in this activism can push the women beyond or pull them back to their existing gender roles and consciousness. In this context, the internal dynamics of a movement, which depend on its power politics, can determine which direction the women will take and have an impact on their empowerment. Women are not a homogeneous group and a dominant group, from a specific class or who have a particular ideology, can come to determine the movement's policies. A further point of interest is that the Kanagawa Seikastu Club Movement was created by a group of men who have played an important part in empowering the women. However, these men have also played on the differences between the women resulting in alliances which can disempower other women. The research combines quantitative and qualitative methods, including a membership survey along with sixty-four interviews and seventeen focus groups. I also conducted participant observations. It reveals the complex processes and interactions which contribute to the empowerment of women in a social movement. It seeks to understand who is empowered and what this means for the wider society. It also shows how the movement is affected by changes in the wider society and how the response to these challenges can affect its members' empowerment.

No description available.