A study of free, improvised music in London and its practitioners. The dissertation is divided into a discussion of different conceptions of the avant-garde with particular reference to critical theory and post-modernism, and transcribed interviews with musicians, making up an oral history of free music. It includes material on the historical development of the avant-garde and the histories of jazz and contemporary composition. There are also considerations of the specific problems of music and language and the problem of methodology and elaborations of the musical/cultural concepts of noise, listening and silence, and also the idea of music as a form of prophecy. The theoretical section outlines the pessimistic cultural/musical theory of Theodor W. Adorno and also discusses the work of Renato Poggioli, Peter Burger, Jacques Attali, Ernst Bloch, Mikhail Bakhtin and Roland Barthes, considering ways in which it is possible to go beyond Adorno. It is proposed that the avant-garde be regarded not as an element of elite or institutionalised culture but of contemporary popular culture and that culture be understood as a source of a polyphonic, dialogic diversity. Contra Adorno, jazz is considered as one form which has historically produced an avant garde and a multiplicity of form. The prehistory and path of development of free music are briefly considered an ideal-theoretical model of its character as an avant-garde cultural activity proposed. The open-ended oral histories and discussions with musicians in the extensive appendices help reflect the multiplistic character of the avant-garde and provide many perspectives and discourses which support, conflict, and counterpoint the arguments developed by the author. Two cassette tapes of recorded musical examples are included.

The advent of overtly instrumental cultural policy making since the 1990s in Europe shows variations in both its articulation and implementation. Whilst discourses of globalisation and neo-liberalism are frequently cited to justify policy instrumentalism, a consistent explanation of how policy making in different countries is linked to localised outcomes is not apparent. This thesis aims to close this explanatory gap by investigating the institutional arrangements of policy making and implementation in two European countries with distinct traditions of cultural administration, i.e. the UK and Germany, using the contemporary dance sector in each country as a site of investigation. This thesis adopts a comparative-historical approach to examine firstly, the cultural policy and contemporary dance sectors of the UK and Germany, using key policy texts and initiatives to uncover the primary logics inherent in the texts. Secondly, we identify how these extrinsic logics are privileged at the expense of alternative, intrinsic logics using rhetorical strategies imported from other policy areas. Thirdly, we apply a moderated form of critical discourse analysis to examine how these strategies and logics are appropriated by actors and organizations in the dance fields of both countries using Bourdieuian concepts of capital to effect changes of identity and legitimacy as a means to gain access to scarce resources. Finally, we assess the impact of instrumental policies on organizational practices and identity using case examples from both Germany and the UK. The emphasis on discourses generated by both policy makers and dance practitioners and organizations reflects the social constructivist perspective inherent in the analysis of the thesis. Furthermore the underlying assumption that much of what is under investigation is dependent on the context in which it is situated, signifies that more than one interpretation of the observations is possible. We use embedded case study examples that are representative of the contemporary dance sector in the UK and Germany and intended as illumination rather than as a deductive source of material for theory building. Thus, we adhere to the particularist view of convergent and divergent discourses and practices, whereby both institutional arrangements and culture are key determinants in the explanation of variations in cultural policy and its outcomes between countries. We argue that variations in socio-political and historical trajectories, institutional structures and processes mediate the forms of compliance and resistance observed amongst dance practitioners in each country. This thesis contributes to the literature on institutional logics by examining the nature of power relationships between dance practitioners and cultural and political organizations in constructing identity and legitimacy for artistic practice.

The overall objective of the study was to explore the leisure needs, choices and preferences of a sample of London adolescents during the school years and to examine what leisure means to them and what role it plays in their lives. The primary aim was to examine how personal factors (aspirations, motivations, personality and attitudes), social factors (family, education, peers and media) and demographic factors (age, sex and class) affect adolescents' leisure needs and interests. A secondary aim was to identify discrepancies between how adolescents perceive their world, how they think adults perceive it, and how adults actually react to adolescents and their life-style. Extensive pilot work resulted in a questionnaire which generated both qualitative and quantitative data. Open-ended questions were used to explore the self-concepts of adolescents and how they think and feel with regard to the meaning and role of leisure. The questionnaire also included a series of scales focusing on family, school, peers, leisure attitudes and personality: factors which are expected to play a major role in determining adolescents' leisure choices and participation. Questionnaires were distributed to a sample of 555 adolescents, aged between 11 and 18 years, attending secondary schools in London. The analysis focuses on how adolescents perceive leisure in relation to other aspects of their lives and how their leisure choices and preferences relate to demographic, personal and social factors. The findings are discussed in relation to adolescent development and familial and societal constraints. The results are evaluated with the aim of achieving a clearer understanding of youth leisure socialization during the school years.

This thesis explores the relationship between sport, manliness and imperial identity in the years between 1900 and 1907. In the second half of the nineteenth century, driven by the public school ideology of muscular Christianity, participation in team sports, principally football and cricket, came to be viewed by social commentators as a central characteristic of the ideal English man. The ideology of muscular Christianity then spread throughout the rest of Britain and its Empire via schools and imperial institutions such as the army and civil service. By the end of the century the practice of sport was central to the conception of the manly imperial Briton. At the same time subjects of British rule began to participate in British sports in increasing numbers, leading to a public debate on their ability to embody imperial manliness. In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries there was a rapid growth in the playing of international sport, fuelled by faster means of communication between the metropole and the colonies, the development of a global media and the exploitation of sport as a commercial enterprise. This thesis argues that imperial sport was developed by a group of sports administrators, journalists, colonial officials and businessmen to foster a feeling of imperialism in the public at large. The matches they organised provoked a complex debate on imperial manliness. Defeat to colonial teams stirred anxieties about racial degeneration in the mother country, while debate surrounding the selection and performance of players from non-white communities in the empires of both Britain and France revealed competing visions of who could represent their empires in the public arena of sport.

This dissertation contends that the distinctive poetic language of hip-hop enables individuals to understand and construct identities, as well as to challenge dominant narratives and provoke conscious shifts in their perceptions of self and community . Beginning with language, Chapter I explores the poetic structure of analogy and examines the cultural and cognitive ro les that analogy plays in American hip-hop. Acknowledging the transcultural nature of identity in hip-hop. Chapter 2 examines Gautam Malkani's novel Londonsrani and the ways in which postcolonial youth construct identities through analogy and hip-hop culture. Further developing the connection between art and audience, Chapter 3 applies Jean-Paul Sartre's notion of 'committed literature' to Christian rap and investigates the role of language in inspiring action and progressive change. The companion album to the dissertation uses poetic structures and tropes to explore political, philosophical and sociological concepts, with the goal of inspiring listeners to reevaluate fundamental assumptions , and be liefs that they may hold, in the tradition of committed literature. The album Scholar is available for free download online at BlakeBrandes.com and includes footnoted lyrics for all beongs to encourage educational application of the music.

This account of a community of Nepali Chhetris (Kshatriya) considers foods as a series of signs, purposefully selected and prepared to convey meaning to the social actors between whom food transactions take place, and hence taking a critical role in the structuring of such relationships. It examines the pattern of feeding relationships between kin and affines (including a detailed analysis of wedding rites), and reflects upon the mutual responsibility or unilateral characteristics exemplified by food interchange. The sharing and allocation of certain types of food, notably jutho, polluted leavings, and analogous remains, inaugurates and defines sexual and patrilineal relationships crucial to the sexual and social reproduction of the community: continuity as a value in Hindu (Chhetri) life is reiterated through a detailed analysis of the uses of rice, curd and salt. The 'substance' of kinship is realised through feeding relationships (while birth is merely a pre-condition). By corollary, it appears that the marginalisation of other castes in relation to the Chhetris depends upon the declining relevance of inter-caste feeding relationships as a consequence of reversal over time in the land:labour ratio. Control over productive resources, and the division of labour, in this community is briefly examined as a background to definitions of social adulthood as self-sufficiency in food production, and the meaning of food in .the context of shortage ~lucidates aspects of social competition, scarcity and illicit circulation of food, e.g. stealing. The ethical considerations behind the transfer of food and services is considered in relation to the kshatra-dharma, as one aspect of the construction of Chhetri identity. Food is used to define, augment and reflect the characteristics of all ritual activities. Foods - or abstention from particular foods - are the media through which abnormal states are experienced, and critical transformative rites of passage are achieved, including the passage between life and dea tho Through the analogy of plant, human and cosmic regeneration and fertility, the correct conveyance of food, in particular between mortals and divines, reproduces the social, moral and physical universe. Food conveyance, consumption and renunciation is a means by which the individual aims to exercise control over the universe and her/his role in it: equally, as a social cipher, food acts as a metaphorical tool through which Nepali Chhetri culture is concisely transmitted, with the blessings of the tikaa, to subsequent generations.

Despite the increase in the number of men living beyond the age of fifty, the sex ratio (the number of men to the number of women) is still 85 men per 100 women in the UK. Indeed at the age of 85 and over, the sex ratio is only 40 men per 100 women, clearly indicating that older women outnumber men, particularly at the 'oldest-old' phase of life. In this context, it is surprising that little research exists within the field of leisure studies on the significance and meaning of leisure for this group. This thesis therefore, attempts to provide an in depth exploration of the role leisure plays in the lives of women aged 75 and over. The thesis begins by examining demographic trends in the UK, placing particular emphasis on the growth in the number of older women. Consideration is then given to examining the increasing number of initiatives, from both international and national agencies, to ensure that the lives of older people are fulfilled and that they are able to participate fully in society. In particular, emphasis is placed on examining the 'active ageing' agenda of both UK national and regional government. The optimistic approaches to later life adopted by the active ageing initiatives is then contrasted with the negative, ageist societal understandings and expectations of old age. Approaches to later life which both the fields of gerontology and leisure studies have adopted are also analysed. In doing so, similarities in the way both fields have treated older people are highlighted, particularly the often negative and pessimistic portrayals of older people's lives within these fields. In doing so, the need for more critical approaches to the study of later life is highlighted. The contribution which postmodern and feminist research can make to more in-depth and optimistic assessments of older women's lives is also considered. In recognising the need for more critical research on older women aged15 and over, particularly research which listens to the voices of older women themselves, rather than treating them as 'objects' of research, this thesis used both semi-structured and biographical interviews to examine the leisure of this under researched group, The findings contradict many stereotyped perceptions of older women as passive, under active participants in leisure but instead present a picture of this group of ,women as leading busy, fulfilled lives, engaged in much purposeful and highly satisfying leisure activity. In doing so, this alternative research approach provides an insight into older women's leisure which challenges society's often ageist and negative portrayals of older women's lives. The research findings also indicate the extent to which these older women's distinct interpretations and meanings of leisure have emerged as a result of shared structural and historical events as well as individual personal experiences. Thus, whilst the semi-structured interviews allowed for an insight into the women's current leisure activities, at a snap shot in time, the biographical interviews allowed for an exploration of the historical social, cultural and political contexts through which they have lived and which have influenced their life chances, opportunities and experiences as well as their current perceptions of leisure.

Little is known about the way in which people spend their spare time. Yet in recent years leisure hours have become almost as many as working hours. And it is already recognised that demand for more leisure time may counteract monetary or other incentives to work. The use of leisure must, therefore, be one of the subjects of sociological enquiry. Curle's criteria of social participation cover three main "role-relationship regions" and their interconnection, the man at home, at work and in the wider society. The economic role and relationships at work make up only one "region" of communication between the individual. and society. His roles at home and with the wider society are chiefly assumed outside working hours and away from work. This does not mean that his role-relationships at work are without their effects upon the rest of his behaviour. The work and leisure aspects of daily life are interdependent. A man's status at work, his type of job and location of workplace may be of great importance in determining not only how he but also how his family spend their leisure time

How do sport policies and practices work to sustain social relations of power and give succour to dominant ideologies? What are the limits and possibilities of sport in providing an alternative and an oppositional vision of cultural politics aild practice? Addressing these questions has been an enduring aim of the critical sociology of sport over the past thirty years. The research upon which this PhD by publication is based can be situated in this critical sociology of sport tradition. In different empirical contexts, drawing on varied (primarily qualitative) methodological approaches, and using diverse conceptual frameworks, my research has been oriented to the problematic of sport, social reproduction and transformation. \. I am not uncritical of the critical sociology of sport. This PhD overview represents a critique of this critical sociology of sport. Focusing on the limitations of the dominant interpretations of Marxist theorising, a distinctive theoretical position described as radical critique is outlined. It is a position that is premised on the irreformability of capitalism's fundamental structures on the one hand (hence the need for social revolution), while acknowledging the social significance of sport on the other (hence the necessity for an engaged critique of sport). It is a position that emerges out of the disjuncture between the revolutionary kernel of Marxist theory and the non-revolutionary history of sport as a social practice. The PhD overview is divided into three substantive sections. After the introduction and a commentary on methodological issues, the first section provides an overview of critique and focuses on the development of critical sociology and its relationship to political intervention. The second section focuses on disciplinary issues and traces the place of Marxism in the critical sociology of sport and outlines the distinctive approach that encapsulates the body of works submitted, namely radical critique. The third section is a commentary on the publications submitted and exemplifies to a greater or lesser extent the radical critique of sporting policies and practices.

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