Sociological studies of the lottery have largely underplayed both the rich history of lotteries in the UK and the richness of meaning that it bears today for its players. They prefer, instead, to limit themselves to issues of pathological and deviant gambling, and to issues of class and regressive taxation. Historically, the growth to maturity in the eighteenth century of UK state lotteries was co-extensive with the establishment and institutionalization of rational capitalism. Their banning in 1826 reflected the separation of legitimate financial speculation from gambling. Sociological theories of gambling have found in it a similar tense affinity with the values of rational capitalism. Gambling is largely conceived, in one way or another, as a safety-valve allowing release from an irresolvable tension in capitalism between prudence and risk-taking. The current UK National Lottery, however, creates diffiulties for these theories. In this thesis I show that the ‘invisibility’ of the lottery – its privatization and its peculiar embeddedness in everyday life – renders problematic a central assumption of theories of gambling: that the release afforded is derived from its providing an exciting focus of economic irrationality. The charitable aspect of the Lottery seems to be in contrast to the Lottery as gambling because the altruistic impulse seems to be fundamentally opposed to the acquisitive spirit of gambling. I show how the Lottery is, by its nature and by its use, able to arbitrate between these apparently contradictory pulls. Thus, in the case of the Lottery, one may add to Devereux’s list of ways in which gambling is able to serve as a mediator between irreconcilable value strains in capitalism a capacity to offer either a release or, indeed, a rapprochement between those values. The contribution of the thesis is three-fold: a critical theoretical appraisal and development of theories of gambling, new empirical data (31 unstructured in-depth interviews) in an under-researched field, and an historical analysis of the relationship between lotteries and aspects of the development of capitalism.

Consumers’ perceptions towards counterfeits as well as the effect of consumers’ perceptions on consumer purchase behaviour remain unclear. On the other hand, the study of determinants of the consideration set has recently become attractive to researchers due to its importance in relation to the study of consumer choice processes. Nevertheless, few researchers have examined the influence of consumer perceptions of branded products on the formation of the consideration set. This thesis attempts an investigation of the determinants of the two crucial stages – consideration set and purchase intention – of the consumer choice process in the context of non-deceptive counterfeiting. The research adopted a combination of qualitative (focus group) and quantitative research (individual interview survey) and provides a detailed examination of consumers’ perceptions of both the counterfeit and original branded products studied, as well as their explanatory power on the selected consumer choice processes. This research suggests that there are certain differences in the kinds of determinants of the same stage of the consumer choice process across different versions of a brand. There also exist some differences in the kinds and numbers of determinants of the consideration set and the purchase intention towards one brand. Nevertheless, the band personality appears to be significant across all regression models. Generally, it plays the dominant role in the formation of the consideration set and consumer purchase intention. Consumers are more likely to evaluate more criteria in the process of consideration than at the purchase intention stage. This research enriches the branding theory, suggests a more sophisticated use of Aaker’s (1997) brand personality scale, and develops a new measurement scale for use in the study of multiple brands.

Diss. Göteborg : Univ., 2002.

Diss. Uppsala : Univ., 2003.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1937. / Bibliography: p. [229]-232.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1959. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography, leaves 167-170.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 420-440).

"Thesis approved for the degree of master of science (economics)--in the University of London." / Bibliography: p. 193-198.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the changes in the agricultural sector during the mid-nineteenth century. It was during this period "laga skiftet" was enacted, which was a law aimed at improving the efficiency of farms by changing the land structure within the collective of farms called "sock". The principal method proposed by "laga skiftet" was to change land from the pasture grounds to the field crop areas. Through meticulous study of original documents of the period, statistics were compiled and presented to show the effects on Enåker’s land structure. The result is conclusive and as intended by the law change, but minor anomalies exist. This is due to the unexplainable relation between the growth in field crop areas and the shrinking of pasture grounds during certain periods, leaving, in some cases, a large amount of hectare’s origins unexplained. Efforts are made to analyse and address this mystery, citing factors such as the use of forest areas and the marsh areas as previously untapped land. Other explanations are given for this disparity including macro-economic, technological and demand side factors. The conclusion finds the law change successful in achieving its goals but recognises other factors also contributed to the changing agricultural landscape during this time. With greater further research into this topic, building upon the groundwork in this text, answers to these anomalies may be unearthed and a wider understanding of the effects and merits of "laga skiftet” will become clear.

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