During the course of the last decade successive governments in the UK have placed young people’s aspirations at the core of their attempts to address poor outcomes within the education system and the labour market. An area-based approach to policy has come to the fore which links ‘low aspirations’ with particular community- and neighbourhood-level factors, in particular area-level deprivation. This area-based focus on the determinants of aspirations has faced intensifying critique from the academic research base. Responding to this policy and research debate, this thesis examines whether, and how, young people’s occupational aspirations are shaped by the areas they live in. The thesis is based on a mixed methods research design and has two sections: an extensive phase and an intensive phase. The extensive phase of the research consists of logistic regression analysis of data from the Understanding Society Youth Questionnaire, and considers whether the types of occupations young people aspire to vary between different types of area. The intensive phase of the research consists of phenomenographic analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with young people in a deprived, outer-urban neighbourhood in Manchester, and considers how young people’s subjective orientations towards the area they live in produce different forms of aspiration. The thesis finds compelling evidence that young people’s occupational aspirations are shaped by the areas they live in, but does not corroborate the claim at the core of current government policy, that aspirations are lower in more deprived areas. The extensive phase of the research instead identifies area type, rather than deprivation, as the primary area-level factor shaping young people’s aspirations, with young people from particular inner city area types almost five times as likely as their peers from deprived outer-urban areas to aspire to ‘higher’ professional, managerial and technical occupations. Meanwhile, the intensive phase of the research finds evidence that experiences of neighbourhood and family life in an area of concentrated deprivation can lead young people to adopt particular forms of aspiration that require lower levels of skill and further training, but on closer examination of the motivations for these forms of aspiration, finds little evidence that these aspirations are straightforwardly ‘low’. Above all, the research demonstrates that young people produce multiple different senses of place, and myriad forms of aspiration, from within the same deprived spatial context: they do not simply reproduce what they see around them when imagining their futures. While there is compelling evidence that young people’s occupational aspirations are shaped by the areas they live in, these area effects demand more nuanced research alongside policy approaches that are more receptive to young people’s constructions of place.

For Christian professional youth workers, the transition from student to employee positions them at the interstices of convergent and competing discourses. This thesis argues that Christian youth workers can position themselves within these discourses by articulating an authentic faith integrated with professional practice. This positioning is produced and reproduced by performative expectations and the influence of relations of power. The notion of one, unitary professional identity is deemed futile as Christian professional youth workers mobilize a complex range of identities within a range of liminal spaces. Youth workers are suspended within an extended liminal state, which opens up different possibilities for professionalism within Christian professional youth work. This thesis contributes to knowledge particularly for the sociology of the professions and specifically with regard to training and subsequent employment of those within professional occupations. Theoretically, this thesis develops Turner’s thinking in relation to the three phases of separation, liminality and reincorporation and how they apply to the understanding of transition from training to employment. Turner’s phases appear to be incomplete for the understanding of the particular issues that individuals face in the forming of identity in late modern contexts. His thinking on separation and liminality adopt a more nuanced meaning in that the statuses are not as clearly defined as would be initially thought. Likewise, reincorporation is elusive, since Christian professional youth workers are suspended within a permanent state of liminality. This thesis redeems the notion of professionalism from a secular liberal ideal, allowing spirituality to flourish once again. A Christian professional can, and does, express an authentic sense of self within different discursive domains. The crossing of discursive boundaries allows for creativity and experimentation that enriches faith and professionalism. The two influence each other in productive ways. Professionalism as the profane becomes the sacred through the experiences of Christian professionals. Of course, professionalism becoming sacred is not the domain of the Christian only. This is pertinent for a person of any faith belonging to a professional occupation and seeking to express their faith through their work.

The general objective of this study is to identify skills required by employers relevant to the agricultural sector especially in cash crop rice farming and to explore how to increase the contribution of new entrants to the labour market leading to increased production, socio-economic development and the reduction of income-poverty in Tanzania. Productivity gains in the agriculture sector have been modest and have had a limited effect on economic growth in Tanzania. Although the country has considerable agricultural potential, making the most of this depends on the availability of a labour force that has the skills to support a shift to greater productivity. This study profiles, analyses and examines the reality of skills provision and the emerging opportunities to find out how skills development and employability should be improved. The research questions focus on (i) identifying the existing skills gaps between employers' needs and employees' capabilities; (ii) identifying the skills which TVET programs impart to enhance performance in the agriculture subsector; and (iii) identifying the skills required by employers and analysing the employability of TVET graduates entering work in the agricultural sector, especially for paddy production. The study concludes by outlining policy implications for improving TVET programs for workforce development. Among the key research findings was the identification of the high degree of irrelevance of most TVET courses for the targeted labour market as overall 89 % of employers claim that the skills possessed by graduates were not applicable to their intended jobs. Moreover, there is a gap in perception between employers and employees about the value of their training. Serious concerns need to be addressed. This can be done by creating an effective system of knowledge dissemination and training building on the current cascade training system involving both the TVET institutions and the visitation of extension workers in the field responsible for enhancing the transfer of modern farming practices. Findings also indicate that very few TVET graduates who enter the agriculture sector have actually studied agriculture, and only seven percent out of the entire TVET graduating cohort have studied the agricultural track. These research findings, drawn largely from a case study analysis as well as analysis of secondary sources, were formed during my professional experience working in the TVET sub-sector in Tanzania. The findings lead to the conclusion that the nature and structure of the curriculum as well as the teaching methodology mean the skills of the TVET graduates are inadequate to meet the demand from the labour market, especially in the paddy production sector. In addition, the study findings lead to a number of critical policy options to reduce skills gaps by refining the curriculum and pedagogy to ensure it is more demand driven and by ensuring that a mechanism is created linking supply and demand. Critical policy options include the need for a clearer and more systemic occupational analysis of the skills needed in paddy production -- such as the analysis provided in the Developing A Curriculum (DACUM) approach in order to ensure that the TVET curriculum is in alignment with the demanded occupational skills. To enhance the scientific and technological foundation of TVET, a strong focus will be required on high-order literacy and numeracy skills. The study also suggests that to establish a “knock-on effect”, youth who obtain skills from TVET institutions also need to be provided with appropriate leadership training during their TVET programs in preparation for disseminating knowledge and skills to other farmers in the field and leading change in agricultural practice. The training system needs to be more closely linked with employers and work places where knowledge and skill can be utilised.

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While there is a considerable body of academic literature on prostitution and sex work, there is relatively little research exploring the working conditions and occupational structures for men and women working in the indoor sex industry. There is a continuing tension between the theoretical position that considers prostitution as gendered exploitation and that which views commercial sex as work, although more recent studies have begun to explore different labour practices in some types of sex work. This thesis moves beyond previous analyses through framing the research theoretically as an occupational study, encompassing the experiences and transitions of female and male sex workers, as well as a small number of transgender participants, and setting these in the context of broader labour market theories and research. Using a qualitative approach, the study considers diverse labour processes and structures in indoor markets and adult sex workers perceptions of the terms and conditions of their work. The research develops an understanding of sex workers agency in relation to state structures, policy frameworks and varied working circumstances. It theorises the relationship of human agency to social stigma and recognition or denial of rights. It extends on existing classifications of pathways into and from sex work and develops typologies incorporating transitions between sub-sectors in the indoor sex industry, as well as temporary and longer-term sex working careers related to varied settings and individual aspirations. While the research identified gendered structures in indoor markets, which reflect those in the broader economy, the findings also contest gender-specific constructions of exploitation and agency through emphasising the diverse experiences of both male and female sex workers. I argue for development of a continuum of agency, which incorporates interlinking concepts such as respect, recognition and economic status and includes both commercial and private intimate relations. I contend that acknowledgement of sexual labour as work is a necessary precondition for recognising sex workers rights and reducing instances of physical and social disrespect. Nonetheless, this is not sufficient to counter social stigma, which is perpetuated by state discourses and policy campaigns which fail to recognise sex workers voices and, in doing so, create new forms of social injustice.

This thesis examines the history of domestic service in Zambia from the 1960s to the present day. Domestic service was one of the largest sectors of urban employment throughout this period and involved large numbers of men, women and children selling and buying labour in a variety of working arrangements. The sector has, however, received little scholarly or official attention, reflecting a broader historiographical neglect of informal sector employment and the female workers who predominate in this area of the economy. The lack of attention paid to domestic service by academics and policy-makers has considerably limited the questions that have been asked about who workers are and how processes of reproduction and production have been organized at a household and societal level in Zambia, both historically and in the present. Most immediately, in order to work outside of the home, earn money and access crucial resources, thousands of Zambians needed to find someone else to take care of their homes and children. Drawing on a wide range of source material, this study demonstrates the importance of domestic service to social and economic relations in post-colonial Zambia. The study centres on domestic service arrangements in black households in the capital city of Lusaka. It examines how and why men, women and children found work in service, how and why employers sought help with domestic and care labour, and the relationships that developed between these parties. The study illustrates the diversity of the sector, with working arrangements varying from seemingly-informal kinship-based labour relations at one end of the spectrum to formalised, contractual employment at the other. The study also explains the gendered and generational shifts that have reshaped domestic service over the last fifty years, drawing attention to the increased significance of women and female children's labour. Overall this thesis provides new insights into class formation, rural-urban dependencies, gender relations, and the nature of inequality in a post-colonial African city.

City of Edinburgh Museums and Galleries hold a substantial collection of artefacts and record books donated in 1909 by the office bearers of the Royal Ancient Order of St Crispin. This organisation was the final reincarnation of the Royal St Crispin Society established around 1817. From 1932 the display of a selection of these objects erroneously attributed their provenance to the Incorporation of Cordiners of Canongate with no interpretation of the meaning and use of this regalia. The association of shoemakers (cordiners in Scotland) with St Crispin their patron saint remained such that at least until the early twentieth century a shoemaker was popularly called a ‘Crispin' and collectively ‘sons of Crispin'. In medieval Scotland cordiners maintained altars to St Crispin and his brother St Crispianus and their cult can be traced to France in the sixth century. In the late sixteenth century an English rewriting of the legend achieved immediate popularity and St Crispin's Day continued to be remembered in England throughout the seventeenth century. Journeymen shoemakers in Scotland in the early eighteenth century commemorated their patron with processions; and the appellation ‘St Crispin Society' appeared in 1763. This thesis investigates the longevity of the shoemakers' attachment to St Crispin prior to the nineteenth century and analyses the origin, creation, organisation, development and demise of the Royal St Crispin Society and the network of lodges it created in Scotland in the period 1817-1909. Although showing the influence of freemasonry, the Royal St Crispin Society devised and practised rituals based on shoemaking legends and traditions. An interpretation of these rituals is given as well as an examination of the celebration of the saint's day and the organisation and significance of King Crispin processions. The interconnection of St Crispin artefacts and archival material held by Scottish museums and archives is demonstrated throughout the thesis.

Peasants, workers, worker-peasants, nomenklatura and the state in northern Poland’s ‘Recovered Territories’ have employed a strategy they call ‘kombinacja’ to survive economic transitions into and out of socialism from 1945 to the present. Kombinacja is the process of manipulating space and legal, political, or cultural rules in order to appropriate a resource—food, commodities, labour, information, power—and then combine them into an ersatz product to meet an economic, cultural, or political end. No person, class, institution, or economy ‘owns’ kombinacja. The ‘who’ and ‘what’ are relational. The ‘when’ and ‘where’ are contextual. Yet, it is not ubiquitous; every kombinacja is a form of speech that charts a terrain of economic and political trajectories intended to shift the balance of power at a given point in time. This multi-sited historical ethnography tracks how these ‘arts of combination’ have pirouetted across agrarian and industrial, formal and informal, socialist and capitalist boundaries in the agro-industrial commune of Dobra. The arts of combination were forged through the exploitation of workers in Poland’s industrialising cities during the 19th century, across its popularisation as a survival strategy during Nazi-occupation, and towards its reformulation into an economic stabiliser for both villagers and the state during the ‘socialist’ era from 1945 to 1989. Villagers used kombinacja to access or hide resources from the state in the midst of broken supply chains, bureaucratic gridlock, food shortages, and complex regulations. When commune officials turned a blind eye to kombinacja to stay in power, they too drew from the arts of combination to ‘fix’ formal state problems in the commune. Kombinacja was used to subvert and accommodate the state. Reworking the state through kombinacja to ensure that no one went hungry informalised the command economy and contributed to the incremental breakdown of the local state apparatus into a feudal-like order. I then turn to nomenklatura privatisation, potato pilfering, alcohol consumption, mushroom foraging, and other practices to trace how kombinacja is being reformulated (or not) to rework post-socialism. The arts of combination call attention to practices that cut across a series of binaries - capitalist/socialist, formal/informal, state/non-state - to show how those marginalised by power seek to control the conditions of their subjection and how those in position of power seek to control the conditions of others’ subjection. Building upon J.K. Gibson-Graham’s ‘diverse economies’, the case of kombinacja shows us that informality does not always create alternatives that subjugate hegemony; rather, they can alternatively be used to crystallise a hegemonic imaginary. I suggest a much broader understanding of how informality has been a site of ingenuity and nequality, innovation and suffering, across time and space.