This thesis provides an account of a qualitative exploration into the lives of a group of young women who the Government defined as socially excluded - those excluded from school. Osier et al (2002, 2003) are the foremost researchers to focus on girls excluded from school. Their work can be described as innovative, however it lacked insight into social and familial factors, in order to understand the girls' experiences in biographical contexts. In response this research sought to explore the girls' social. home and school careers (Humphrey, 1993) and the roles and / or identities they constructed and performed in their everyday lives. More specifically exploration was made of how a group of socially excluded young women negotiated heteronormative femininities (and their use of agency and resistance in these negotiations).

The thesis explores current debates about postfeminism, social class and new forms of femininity within the context of young women’s social drinking practices. A pervasive culture of intoxication has emerged amongst contemporary young drinkers where drunkenness is constructed as integral to a good night out. This is played out in highly visible public displays where gender, femininities and class are performed, positioned and reconfigured. The culture of intoxication therefore provides a productive arena to undertake an in depth analysis of how postfeminism works and how different social groups of young women navigate gender relations, new formations of femininity and class within this terrain. Data are in the form of middle-class and working-class young women’s accounts of their social drinking in bars and clubs within a relatively small city in the South West of England. The data was collected through 2 phases of semi-structured focus groups with 6 friendship groups of 24 women between 19-24 years of age. A Foucauldian discourse analysis was employed to identify key discourses in young women’s talk, focusing on the intersection between postfeminism and the culture of intoxication. These young women are called on to occupy positions of excess through drinking practices and display a hyper-sexualised form of femininity. This produces an impossible dilemma for young women. The young women drew on four discourses to construct drunkenness as a cultural norm. Within these discourses a particular level of drunkenness was constituted as highly desirable but also as a precarious risky state. Femininity was defined around a ‘right’ look and a ‘wrong’ look within two interlinking discourses and the young women drew on discourses that re-inscribed the gendered politics of drinking. The working-class and middle-class young women drew on different discourses to articulate class differentiation and class was reproduced through highly coded terms. There was an absence of feminist discourse throughout the young women’s accounts and this was involved with re-producing the sexual double standard and with constructing classed postfeminist subjectivities. The thesis concludes by considering the implications of a new classed femininity within an absence of feminist discourse in the context of postfeminism.

Low embodied energy, ability to act as a carbon store and ease of recycling gives forest products an important role within a low carbon built environment. Almost 25 % of the coniferous resource within the South West of England is Douglas-fir, a species reputed for producing high quality timber. Despite this, the region is facing challenges in delivering the resources full potential, a contributing factor to which is a loss of knowledge regarding its quality. The aim of the work presented is to gain an improved understanding of the quality of Douglas-fir grown within the region, from the perspective of uses in structural applications, the factors which influence material quality and their interrelationships. Flexural modulus of elasticity, flexural and compressive strength were determined utilising small clear specimens derived from 1.3 and 8 m heights within 27 trees from six sites across the South West. Results showed a rise in the magnitude of properties with increasing cambial age, particularly so at younger ages. Differences in values were also recorded between stem heights and with rate of growth. These were however less than age related variations. Results compared favourably to those reported in other studies conducted on the species. Utilising SilviScan-3, anatomical properties including density, microfibril angle and cellular dimensions were measured. Significant variations were recorded with cambial age, and in some instances sampling height. The influence of growth rate on anatomical properties was small. Through statistical and composite modelling, microfibril angle was found to be strongly associated with changes in modulus of elasticity within juvenile wood. Within mature wood and for strength properties, density was the controlling factor. It was shown that a moderate proportion of variations in mechanical properties can be accounted for utilising visually identifiable wood characteristics. The new understanding that has been gained through this work presents opportunities for improved utilisation, the implementation of effective management practices and the development of more efficient visual grading techniques.