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Investigation of appearance adjustment issues has received increasing attention in recent times. However, research into associated cognitive processes and the theoretical underpinnings of adjustment has not received equivalent focus. Self-Schema theory has been proposed as a possible framework for understanding the development and maintenance of appearance concern. Although research has been conducted assessing whether appearance concerns can be conceptualised as a schema structure, this work has focused mainly on weight and shape-related appearance issues and has failed to adequately assess the multifaceted nature of the schema construct. The purpose of this program of research was to address these issues through assessment of a multitude of schematic attributes related to appearance and their potential information processing implications; thus, providing evaluation of the usefulness and applicability of appearance self-schemata in further our understanding of appearance concern. The first series of studies investigated organisation and content of appearance-related information within the self-concept to evaluate whether poor appearance adjusters exhibited structuring consistent with the schema construct. The results suggest that higher levels of appearance concern are associated with increased salience, negative valence and elaboration of appearance information. These findings are consistent with predictions based on self-schema theory. The second series of studies investigated differences in processing of appearance-related information. Interpretation of ambiguous stimuli, attention towards specific information, speed of processing, and context-specificity of processing biases were evaluated and related to adjustment level. A variety of methodologies were employed to assess these variables including the dot-probe task and context-priming tasks.

The body has become an increasingly important resource upon which individuals construct their self-identities. Whether it is through the clothes that we choose to wear, the hairstyles we adopt, or the size and shape of our bodies, consumer culture increasingly promotes the body as an entity of individual choice whose outward appearance reflects who we are on the inside. This thesis explores the relationship between the body and self-identity through an exploration of contemporary tattooing practices, and in so doing adds to the burgeoning body of work that has explored the relationship between the body and identity (i.e. Turner 1991; Giddens 1991; Shilling 2012), and the expanding corpus of literature that has explored tattooing (i.e. Sweetman 1999a, 1999b, 1999c; Atkinson 2002, 2003a, 2003b, 2004; DeMello 2000; Pitts 2003; Sanders 2008). Data for this thesis was generated by conducting mixed-method ethnographic research in order to explore how individuals utilise tattooing as part of their individual body projects of self-identity. Adopting Norbert Elias’s figurational – or process – sociology I explore how and why tattooing has become an increasingly sought after and acceptable form of corporeal alteration that has moved from the social margins to occupy a place of heightened respectability, and why individuals choose tattooing over others form of body project available to them. I propose that a key reason for tattooing’s popularity in 21st century Britain is that is allows individuals to fulfil quests for authenticity that have become an increasingly central concern for contemporary citizens. Concurrently, this thesis also explores the relationship between researchers and their research settings by examining the insider/outsider status of social researchers, and exploring themes of involvement, detachment, and reflexivity. It argues that the ideal of totally objective social research proposed by Weber is not obtainable, nor should it be. Instead, researchers should take into account their own biography and how this impacts upon the research process and the dissemination of findings, in order to produce object-adequate knowledge.

The objective of any regulation is to realise the goal(s) that justified its intervention. One means of demonstrating this is to determine the extent of regulatory compliance. This study intended to determine the extent of regulatory compliance with the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of skin piercing and tattooing) Order 2006 in Scotland's tattooing and cosmetic body piercing industry. Implemented in Scotland in 2006, its aim was to minimise risk to health from skin piercing and tattooing. Philosophically underpinned by pragmatism, a concurrent mixed methods study was undertaken. All 220 practitioners and 78 enforcers engaging with this regulation across Scotland were invited to participate. Through analysis and interpretation of data from semi-structured questionnaires (n=107, 36%), qualitative focused interviews (n=35) and non-participant observations (n=8), users' experiences of regulatory implementation were explored and explained, to more fully understand regulatory compliance. Integrative analysis and interpretation of this study's mixed methods data determined neither substantive compliance (compliance with the collective goals of regulation) nor rule compliance (compliance with the regulatory standards) had been achieved following implementation of this new regulation. The existence of a significant level of shared activity between practitioners and enforcers during regulatory implementation was however established, where partnership working had derived from the ‘specialist' nature of industry practice. Consequently, it was deduced that ‘compliance' (defined in this context as ‘doing what was asked to conform to the law') poorly reflected the events of regulatory implementation. Instead, ‘concordance' has been discerned as the primary activity. The concept of concordance as ‘working towards agreement' more accurately depicted the experiences of practitioners and enforcers during the process of regulatory implementation. Subsequently, the extent of ‘concordance' was determined: The divergent attitudes/ experiences on the consistency of regulatory implementation and its ability to achieve its aim, coupled with the ambiguous understanding of ‘risk to health' and converse working perspectives of practitioners and enforcers led to the conclusion that goal concordance (agreement on the collective goal(s) of the regulation) had not been achieved. On the other hand, despite evidence of apparent inadequacies and omissions in industry practices, practitioner and enforcer confidence in industry infection control practices led to the conclusion that rule concordance (agreement on the regulatory standards to be met) had been achieved. From these collective findings, a ‘Specialist Industry Concordance-Compliance Model' was developed to explain the achievements of practitioners and enforcers as a result of implementing new regulation/ meeting regulatory requirements within a specialist industry. Complementing rather than conflicting with existing literature, this study offers ‘concordance' as an alternative and/or intermediate output of regulatory implementation, explaining the process by which practitioners and enforcers implement new regulation/meet regulatory requirements within a specialist industry. Moreover, the study findings provide a framework to support better understanding of the potential output from implementation, monitoring and review of regulatory interventions, frequently associated with sub-optimal compliance. In turn, through combined understanding of concordance and compliance, the design of good regulation can be promoted, thereby facilitating maximum reduction in risk/ risk to health through regulatory intervention.

This thesis examines the cultural, religious and therapeutic functions of Roman baths and bathing during Late Antiquity, as they are presented in a wide range of primary literary sources, and the way in which they are addressed in current research. The chronological scope of the work stretches from the late 3rd to the early 7th century. The geographical focus is on the Eastern part of the Roman Empire. The aim of the thesis is, primarily, to analyse aspects of bathing during this period that have not been previously addressed in detail (such as medicinal uses of bathing) and to examine the issues that have been discussed in the past but had not been answered unequivocally, or which have not been treated in an exhaustive manner – such as the matters of nudity and equality in a bath-house environment, or of Christian attitudes to bathing in this context. The thesis also considers what the knowledge of the subject topic contributes to our understanding of the period of Late Antiquity. The thesis examines the changes that occurred in the bathing culture during Late Antiquity and their causes, exploring in detail the impact of Christianity on bathing customs, and devotes special attention to how the perceptions of bathing were presented in the contemporary sources. This will be achieved by investigating passages from a wide range of texts mentioning baths and bathing and subsequently drawing conclusions based on the analysis of the primary sources.

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Faire du rapport des individus à leur apparence corporelle une véritable question sociologique, telle fut l'ambition de cette thèse. Prenant appui sur un étonnement intellectuel - relatif à la difficile constitution du champ de la sociologie du corps et au décalage fort entre l'omniprésence des enjeux esthétiques dans le monde social (notamment médiatique) et leur modeste considération dans l'espace des sciences sociales - cette visée s'est matérialisée par la mise en oeuvre d'une enquête qualitative, menée entre 2013 et 2014, auprès de 60 individus (32 femmes et 28 hommes), âgés de 21 à 52 ans. Cette étude, dont le fil conducteur a été de mettre en exergue les modalités de l'expérience esthétique des individus (coûts, bénéfices, vécus, stratégies, dans le rapport à soi et à autrui), s'est appuyée sur l'outil analytique du genre, véritable catalyseur de l'injonction à l'autonomie et à la réflexivité esthétique à l'oeuvre depuis la seconde moitié du XXème siècle. Les deux axes analytiques qui orientent la trame de cette thèse sont ainsi les suivants : (1) quels sont les enjeux des dimensions « intra-genre », « inter-genre » dans la construction d'une identité esthétique, (2) dans quelles mesures la dialectique entre rapport à soi et rapport à autrui constitue-t-elle le socle de l'appropriation esthétique d'un soi genré ? Effectivement, en étudiant l'apparence comme une théâtralisation du genre des individus, nous avons notamment pu mettre en évidence combien la consistance des corps et les pratiques esthétiques représentaient des modalités essentielles de la recomposition contemporaine des existences genrées. Notre enquête nous a ainsi amenée à penser que la posture analytique la plus légitime pour une sociologie de l'apparence est celle qui envisage cet objet « apparence » avant tout comme une expérience réflexive à laquelle chacun se trouve confronté, le rapport au corps constituant un support identitaire central pour l'individu contemporain. En ce sens, l'étude du « bricolage esthétique de soi » des acteurs sociaux constitue à nos yeux une orientation pertinente pour les sociologues afin d'appréhender les contours de ce qu'être un individu (incarné) aujourd'hui dans notre société représente pour tout un chacun. / Studying the relationship of individuals with their own body and appearance as a real sociological question, such was the aim of this thesis. Building on an intellectual astonishment - the difficult constitution that marked the field of the sociology of the body and the huge gap between the omnipresence of aesthetic issues in the social world (including media) and their modest consideration in the Social Sciences world - this aim has been materialized through the implementation of a qualitative survey, conducted between 2013 and 2014, with 60 individuals (32 women and 28 men), aged from 21 to 52 years. The common thread of this study was to outline the terms of the aesthetic experience of individuals (costs, benefits, experiences, relationship with oneself and with others) and we used the analytical tool of gender, real catalyst of the autonomy and aesthetic reflexivity injunctions ongoing in our society since the second half of the twentieth century. The two analytical axes that guide the frame of this thesis are as follows: (1) what are the issues of the two dimensions: "intra-gender", "cross-gender" in the construction of an aesthetic identity, (2) to what extent the dialectic between self-relation and relationships with others could be the base of the aesthetic appropriation of a gendered self? Indeed, studying the appearance as a dramatization of the gender of individuals, has enabled us to highlight how the consistency of the body and aesthetic practices represente essential modalities regarding the contemporary restructuring of gendered lives. Our investigation let us think that the most legitimate analytical posture for a sociology of appearance is the one considering this item "appearance" first and foremost as a reflexive experience to which each individual is faced, relationship with the body constituting a central identity support for the contemporary individual. In this sense, the study of "self-esthetics handiwork" of social actors is in our opinion a relevant guidance for sociologists to grasp the framework of what being an (embodied) individual today in our society represents for everyone.