The thesis has a number of general aims, which range around conceptualising the Loyal Orange Institution [LOI] and laying it open for a fruitful theoretical approach. There is first in Section One, a demarcation of the object of study, drawing a rigorous line between the LOI and a much more indefinite body of militant Protestant and anti-Catholic sentiment. Following on from this, the causal regress is shifted beyond a commonsense attribution of `sectarianism', and the conspiratorial or functionalist emphases which tend to dominate the existing literature. Generally more appropriate, in analysing Orangeism's progress in 19th century Scotland, is a conception of ideology which is structural and objective. Yet care is also taken here not to erase all instances of social control in the Movement's history. These, it is suggested, can be viewed as arising from basic inequalities of power in capitalism, in turn the result of economic inequalities and control of the state apparatus. A further difficulty with the more `sophisticated' Marxist approach is also raised. For, if this is a better fit with Orangeism's political and ideological content; in its embracing of endemic fractionalisation of the proletariat, it does seem to abandon a characteristic Marxist class analysis in favour of a neo-Weberian one. It is agreed that this indicated the need for a new Marxist approach to sectionalism. The construction of such an approach, however, requires concrete historical work rather than more speculative theorising. Accordingly it is the former which is the concern of this thesis, though it does raise a number of themes which are important for further theoretical consumption. Section Two, for example, suggests the necessity of rethinking the relation between sectarianism and sectionalism in the workplace. Related to this must also be a reconsideration of the `labour aristocracy' concept, and the explanatory value of `marginal privilege' in connection with Orangeism. The Section further emphasises the need for a phenomenological dimension in any new theory of working class sectionalism, a sensitivity to self-perceptions being particularly crucial in understanding the sources of motivation for Orangeism and the internal divisions which characterised it. An important substantive problem also structures this, and Section Three dealing with Orange political practice - namely how to account for the LOI's absolute strength, yet relative weakness in Scotland. The predicates for the former, it is argued, are found in a sympathetic ideological climate, and in the impact of successive home Rule and Disestablishment crises. Above all, though, it is suggested that the real backbone of LOI support in 19th century Scotland was formed by Ulster Protestant migrants. In Orange relations with the churches and political parties, however, this `Ulster factor' could prove a double-edged sword. For while the migrants themselves were largely integrated into Scottish society, Orangeism itself was widely perceived as an extension of Irish `party' quarrels. Coupled with a reputation for violence and drunkenness, this factor interacted in turn with broader cultural and political, as well as economic, features of 19th century Scotland. Notably these included schisms in the Scottish churches, the precarious position of the Conservative party here, and the focus of political decision-making outside the country. These points indicate, finally, the importance of an awareness of the specificity of social formations in any new approach to sectionalism.

This study is concerned with the process by which community among working class people is defined and redefined in the course of collective political activity. Specifically it analyses the potential role of trade unions in the development of community in residential settlements where the labour market is shaped by a major workplace. The empirical research was carried out in two Yorkshire mining villages in the three years following the 1984/85 Miners' Strike. A range of research techniques were employed to investigate the nature of `community' in the villages before, during and after the Strike. The first part of the thesis provides the necessary historical and political context, investigating the development of the miners' union and the issues involved in the 1984/85 Strike. The second part consists of an ethnographic study of Armthorpe, a village with an open pit. I describe the process by which the union branch, as the vehicle through which the coalmining population collectively encountered their employers and the state, provided a core around which a democratic and dynamic village community could be developed. I outline the population's mobilisation in 1984/85 and analyse the effects of their strike involvement on the village community. A central platform of the NUM in 1984/85 was the defence of `jobs, pits and communities'. In order to investigate the impact of pit closures on community, the final part of my thesis consists of a subsidiary study of Moorends, a nearby village where the pit was closed in 1957. I describe the very different experience of its population in 1984/85 and analyse the nature of social relationships in the Strike's aftermath. I conclude by suggesting that the 1984/85 Miners' strike illustrates the potential of collective struggle for creating `community' among working class people on a variety of levels.

This thesis outlines the development of the protests by students which took place in Britain from 1965 to 1972, and investigates the reasons for the occurrence of these protests at that particular time. This inquiry has used national and student newspapers, extensive archive material, secondary sources, and oral history interviews to carry out these aims. In particular, this thesis will suggest that sLudent protest can only be understood in the light of changes in attitudes to authority in the post-war period. The position of young people in society was transformed in the decades following the Second World War, and this change was itself the result of social, economic and cultural changes which will be considered as part of this thesis. It will be argued that deterministic interpretations, which have suggested that student protest was the result of revolutionary politics, group conformity, rebellion against parental or social disciplines, or rapid university expansion, have been mistaken. Instead, students took part in protests upon specific issues about which they felt strongly, usually because they believed that those in authority had committed injustices. This protest could only take place, therefore, once prevailing attitudes to authority had changed. and students felt that it was both possible and acceptable to challenge the decisions of those who were in. authority.

According to contemporary fashion, humankind has entered a new era marked by epochal change, be it a globalized, postmodern, post-industrialist, late modern, high modern, meta-modern, hyper-modern, super-modern, post-Fordist or post-emotional society. In contrast to such claims for epochal disjunction, this thesis identifies fundamental continuities in attitudes and policies toward disablement. Disabled Britons, since at least the 1970's, have sought to develop alternative explanations of disablement, exemplified by Mike Oliver's 'Social Model of Disability'. Despite the influence of a socio-political account amongst the activist disability movement, dominant ideology ensures that such pioneering ideas are subject to unrelenting disparagement and disinformation. Despite such ridicule, this thesis shows that claims of a coherent and liberative 'disability policy' in the UK remain grandiloquent, if not entirely inaccurate. Building on the work of Deborah Stone and Mike Oliver, in particular, I will show that, despite modest progress, British disability policy remains indelibly marked by seventeenthcentury assumptions and prejudice. This thesis contributes to the development of disability theory by providing a critical socio-economic analysis of contemporary policy and radical theorising, a task that has yet to be substantially addressed in the UK. Furthermore, by examining legal, historical, economic, political and social sources, I contend that the absence of contemporary disability policy will be shown to provide explicit benefits to the elite, to the detriment of efforts to promote and protect the emancipation of disabled Britons. The over-arching premise is that socio-political accounts of disablement continue to provide unparalleled analytical and theoretical insights into a process of disablement, not least as a particular brand of capitalism is in the ascendancy: the struggle for global hegemony aided by the advancement of a single market modelled on U.S. lines.

This thesis looks into the complex relationships which women have had with their bodies throughout the twentieth century. It uses oral history evidence, medical sources, and official government material to examine women’s experiences of and access to physical recreation and sport throughout the life-cycle. It argues that despite the official view that throughout the twentieth century women’s sporting bodies were essentially fragile bodies, unsuited to competitive and manly sports, there were a number of alternative discourses available to women during these years. Women who had strong sporting identities, and confidence in their own physical abilities, were able to test the capabilities of their bodies and maintain their exercise participation throughout adolescence, menstruation, pregnancy and during motherhood, despite the advice of state officials, and many doctors, which advised them against participation. This thesis makes a powerful contribution to what at present is a largely uncharted historical landscape of female participation in and experience of physical recreation in Scotland and the UK in the mid-twentieth century. In a global context, it contributes to our understanding of the relationship between the female body and physical activity throughout the physically and culturally guided female life-cycle, and the particular ways in which women interacted with sport and exercise throughout the twentieth century.

This thesis is the first academic study of nineteenth-century artist and drawing master Samuel Lines (1778-1863) and his five sons: Henry Harris Lines (1800-1889), William Rostill Lines (1802-1846), Samuel Rostill Lines (1804-1833), Edward Ashcroft Lines (1807-1875) and Frederick Thomas Lines (1809-1898). The thesis, with its catalogue, has been a result of a collaborative study focusing on a collection of works on paper by the sons of Samuel Lines, from the Permanent Collection of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA). Both the thesis and catalogue aim to re-instate the family’s position as one of Birmingham’s most prominent and distinguished artistic dynasties. The thesis is divided into three chapters and includes a complete and comprehensive catalogue of 56 works on paper by the Lines family in the RBSA Permanent Collection. The catalogue also includes discursive information on the family’s careers otherwise not mentioned in the main thesis itself. The first chapter explores the family’s role in the establishment of the Birmingham Society of Arts (later the RBSA). It also explores the influence of art institutions and industry on the production of the fine and manufactured arts in Birmingham during the nineteenth century. The second chapter discusses the Lines family’s landscape imagery, in relation to prevailing landscape aesthetics and the physically changing landscape of the Midlands. Henry Harris Lines is the main focus of the last chapter which reveals the extent of his skills as archaeologist, antiquarian and artist.

This thesis seeks to develop a conception of the British Political Tradition as an idea of democracy and apply it to explain the constitutional development of the House of Lords. The British Parliament is one of the oldest Parliaments in the world and is characterised both by the stability of its governing institutions and its capacity to absorb change. Academic literature of the British Political Tradition offers a plethora of arguments aimed at explaining which idea(s) have underpinned governing institutions and sustained their longevity in the constitution. The objective of this thesis is to demonstrate how the stability of Britain’s governing institutions and its history of strong authoritative government emanate from a dominant though contested idea of democracy founded upon a limited liberal idea of representation and a conservative idea of responsibility. The House of Lords is examined from the 1688 Glorious Revolution through to the modern day House of Lords Reform process (2012). The aim is to demonstrate through empirical practice how the British Political Tradition has been the dominant idea shaping the development the constitution and defining the powers of the Crown and the Houses of Lords and Commons.

In this study I argue that the recent proliferation of punitive and restrictive asylum policies indicates that the British government is prepared to tolerate levels of violence against certain human bodies, from particular countries, to a much greater degree than would be tolerated for others. Archival evidence is presented to show that hierarchical conceptions of humanity have a long history, rooted in British colonial activities, and that such ideologies continue to operate in the contemporary period. The project involves documenting three ‘critical junctures’ when ideas of human hierarchy were challenged at the political institutional level. These critical junctures are used to make the case for a historically informed reading of contemporary British asylum policy which takes seriously the epistemic legacies of colonialism. The study adapts Desmond King and Rogers Smith’s ‘racial institutional orders’ approach, originally conceived in the US context, to the British case, and incorporates a post-colonial perspective into the analysis. Through analysing the debates around these issues, it is possible to glean some insight into both the enduring power of ideas of human hierarchy, and the possibilities for transformative change.