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The research aim of this research is to identify and examine key resources, a conceptual framework drawing on the application of stochastic frontier models in obtaining measures of efficiency that enable a comparison of performance across industries and countries, explaining why, in the same country, some industries achieve superior efficiency performance. The important task is to relate efficiency to a number of factors that are likely to be determinants, and measure the extent to which they contribute to the presence of inefficiency. More specifically, the first step of this thesis is to review the literature concerned with techniques of efficiency estimation. This will facilitate an understanding of both the theoretical and application part of the research. The second step of this thesis is to highlight the pitfalls of the different relevant models and methodologies. The third and most important goal and contribution of this thesis is to suggest a concrete method to estimate industrial efficiency, avoiding the inherent problems. This thesis considers a European Union perspective efficiency analysis to increase the information base and derive broader conclusions about European Union productive performance within selected countries. This issue is of particular research relevance because empirical evidence shows that even though European Union industries are widely analyzed with respect to performance, yet little attention has been paid to the estimation of technical efficiency. Within this sample, it is of great importance to examine which determinants are significant, however, it is also important, to examine whether the interactions between technical progress, ICT investment, ICT investment share, R&D stock and economy openness, namely the process of the integration into the world economy, has any implications for technical efficiency. Special emphasis is given to the review of two of the main heterogeneity determining factors, namely innovation investments (as a proxy of knowledge creation) and economy openness (as a proxy of knowledge dissemination). In particular, this thesis explores whether the interactions between these factors have any implications for efficiency growth, and whether there are any complementarities between them and fostering technical efficiency growth. More specifically, this thesis aims to distinguish between the two main factors which affect total factor productivity, namely technical progress and technical efficiency, as well as what determines the production frontier itself and what determines the inefficiency term (both theoretically and empirically).

This project focused upon exploring elements of hegemonic masculinity which participants have consumed (or otherwise) in a context of Facebook profiles in order to create their social self-expression. At the same time this study recognised the consumption of ideological aspects that underpin participants’ personal understandings of manhood. The first phase of the research focused upon content analysis of eighty-nine Facebook profiles (Chapters 7-9). The aim was to capture masculine traits that participants symbolically consume and conceptualise in their social environment on a daily bases. The second phase of the research used an analysis of thirty-one open-ended questionnaires (Chapter 10). It explored the consumption of personal experiences of being a man which were also compared with participants’ social self-presentation. Both parts of the research aimed to obtain a complex view on contemporary masculinities in order to understand why some aspects of hegemonic masculinity are consumed and valued on a daily bases while others are discarded by participants. In short, gender identity was a main focus of this research. Masculine identities were shown to be underpinned by social, cultural and media messages as well as individual reflexivity. This thesis argues that looking at the concept of masculinity through the new lens of symbolic consumption allows both the identification of people’s self-expression in a social context and the hearing of individual voices and the experiences of men. This approach captures the multiplicity of masculinities and contributes to challenging the hegemonic facets of gender.

It can be argued that we live in a ‘work-centred’ society, since not only has society witnessed a massive quantitative expansion of paid-work, but many also accept that, at this present historical moment, the tasks, relationships and time-structures of work occupy a central place in people’s sense of well-being. Critical social theorists have advanced an alternative perspective and undertaken a critique of work, responding to the interlinked social problems of mass unemployment, inequality, environmental degradation, and low well-being, by promoting an anti-productivist politics which calls for a decentralisation of work in everyday life. Theorists such as André Gorz have suggested that such proposals resonate with a cultural disenchantment with work, as well as growing desire for non-material goods such as autonomy, free-time, good-health and conviviality. Such claims, however, have rarely been explored on an empirical level. One of the central questions that remain unanswered is whether and how it is actually possible for people to live with significantly lower levels of work. In response to this gap in the literature, the present study undertakes a qualitative investigation into the lives of a diverse sample of people, each of whom has chosen to work less or to give up working altogether. In-depth interviews explore the work experiences and moral priorities that informed the participant’s lifestyle changes. Also explores are the trials of working less, including how participants coped with less money, and how they coped with the stigmas attached to working less, in the midst of a society that continues to attach moral significance to having a job. Are the participants deviants, malingerers, and failures, or might society learn something positive and inspiring from their actions and choices?

In recent years the police service has undergone a number of changes with the introduction of neighbourhood policing (NP) being one of the most significant. NP represents the latest in a long line of government endorsed attempts to introduce a more community orientated and customer focussed approach to policing. NP encourages police constables (PCs) and, the recently introduced, police community support officers (PCSOs) to spend more time engaging with the public, supporting vulnerable members of community and working in partnership with other agencies. This style of policing represents a significant departure from established understandings of policing which have become synonymous with ‗response policing‘ with its focus on maintaining public order and arresting criminals. A great deal of research over the last 30 years has referred to the highly gendered culture of policing which has also been the subject of a great deal of criticism. This research focuses on the identity performances of NP officers and the different ways that NP is enacted within different contexts and situated interactions. My conceptual framework draws on both ethnomethodological and poststructural approaches in understanding how officers in different contexts constructed, reconstructed and resisted discourses in the performances of particular identities. This framework is therefore sensitive to how power and resistance works through discursive constructions within particular contexts. To further improve our appreciation of context, emphasis is given to the importance of cultural meanings as an important source of discursive constraint. However, the research clearly shows that while some discourses may be dominant in influencing identity performances, these are always contested and it is though the clash of competing discourses that the agency of NP officers is revealed (Holmer-Nadesan 1996). The study adopts an ethnographic methodology, using participant observation and semi-structured interviews to examine four broad NP contexts. These are the PCSO training course and the three neighbourhood teams, all of which are located in a different policing environment. Drawing on ethnomethodology, my approach focused on the front and back stage contexts of neighbourhood policing, examining the relationships between discourses and performances within these contexts. The findings reveal the strength of dominant policing discourses linked to gender, police professionalism, ‗real‘ policing and community and also shows the ways that these discourses are also infused and subverted by different sets of meanings and ways of being. The PCs and PCSOs involved in the study were seen to manoeuvre and navigate these contested discourses in the ways they enacted NP in different contexts. The research also reveals the contested and fragmented nature of policing cultures and how these cultures may be best understood as a coexistence of multiple constructions of discourse (Mumby, 2011). The concluding discussion of the thesis presents a number of contributions in relation to the discursive construction of identities, the influence of gendered cultures as well as the challenge of introducing NP into British policing.

Contributing empirically, methodologically and conceptually to the body of work that remains unconvinced of the ‘death of class’ (Pahl 1989), this thesis explores the resonance of class culture in contemporary ‘alternative’ food practice. Indeed, arising from disenchantment with conventional industrial food production and supply chains, ‘alternative’ food networks aim to provide a means to reconnect consumers, producers and food (Kneafsey et al. 2008). By taking seriously the act of shopping for food as culturally meaningful and not merely a practice of routinely provisioning the home (Lunt and Livingstone 1992) this thesis then argues that ‘alternative’ food practice provides a platform for the performance of class identities. That is, both structurally and culturally, class is thought to matter to people (Sayer 2011), and is elucidated and reproduced through food practice. By means of mixed methods data collection; participant observation, survey, semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis, this study provides support for a Bourdieusian approach to class analysis. In particular, the thesis makes use of Bourdieu’s toolkit of concepts by conceiving of class as a relative ‘position’. This is understood to be achieved via the moral derision of the ‘other’, where participants draw moral boundaries between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods and the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ who partake in its consumption. In this way, the field of ‘alternative’ food practice seems not only ground from which to observe class. Rather, ‘alternative’ food is understood to be appropriated as a resource of ‘distinction’ (Bourdieu 1984) that is then figured in the very maintenance and reproduction of class culture. This interface between class, food and culture may prove consequential for those seeking substantive alternatives to conventional foodways. Crucially, it is argued that by imagining less socially and culturally uniform strategies to promote ‘alternative’ food practice, we may unlock their potential to provide an equitable and sustainable food future. To this end, by elucidating the moral significance of class in the field of ‘alternative’ food practice, this thesis has wider implications in carving a role for sociological enquiry in the emerging field of ‘sustainability science’ (Marsden 2011).

There is a prevailing view that the seafarer labour market provides an exemplar of a global labour market (GLM). The broader literatures suggest that labour markets when examined in detail are characteristically segmented in various ways. There is some evidence to indicate that the maritime industry may be somewhat similar. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which the maritime labour market is striated and thus, the extent to which it may be considered truly global. Using the lens of perceived shortage of quality officers within the industry, this study examines whether the seafaring GLM can be understood to be a homogeneous space in which seafarers are freely employed on a global basis. A qualitative research methodology was utilised consisting of interviews with representatives from maritime associations and organisations, executives from shipping companies and seafarers. The study also analysed over 200 articles from the electronic archives of ‘Lloyd’s List’, a maritime newspaper. The analysis of the data revealed that jobs and seafarers are divided into market segments that can function relatively independently. Segments occur because seafarers and jobs do not fit smoothly via a common market mechanism, instead demand and supply processes separate jobs and workers into divisions. The segmentation of the labour market is marked by quality, trade sector, geography, and international regulations and industry requirements, and market striation occurs along both horizontal and vertical dimensions.

The aim of this study is to explore the ‘empirical particulars’ (Garland 2001, p. vii) of policymaking in crime and disorder control, and the ways in which sub national policy actors are able to adapt and exert influence more generally over national level policy decisions as well as resist such wider forces. This research contends that some rethinking is needed away from much existing criminological literature on shifts in crime control policy that has been dominated by the ‘grand narrative’ accounts of writers such as Garland (2001). These narratives have been concerned largely with the provision of general accounts of overall shifts in policymaking at the national and at times global levels. As a result the local dimension to this process has been with a few notable exceptions neglected or downplayed. Instead the primary focus of much existing criminological literature has been upon the role of national policy elites, presenting policymaking as a top down experience that follows a relatively smooth trajectory. In contrast this study suggests that policymaking is instead a more unpredictable and messier process that can be affected by problems of implementation and resistance. In order to examine the role of the ‘local’ within policymaking, this research employed the use of a single ‘exemplifying case study’ of one English city and in turn it examined in depth one particular area of policymaking and implementation, namely the local management of Anti Social Behaviour (henceforth ASB). This sought to bring together documentary analysis and elite interviews in an effort to provide an empirically detailed account of anti social behaviour policy development. This study focused primarily on a series of semi-structured interviews, involving a range of key local policy actors. These were conducted over an extended period of time, which coincided with the rise of the national level ASB agenda. This extended period enabled observations to also be made about the ebb and flow of policy often as it emerged and caused local practitioners to have to develop and adapt policy responses. The resulting empirical findings provide an informed example of the messiness and contingency of public policymaking, whilst also providing a site in which other academic theories can be tested and applied. The intention of this study is to not only make a significant contribution to the field in which it is nested (ASB policy and practice), but also to enhance our understanding of the effects that broader policy change and the impact that key national policy drivers can have upon the formulation of local level policy responses. In brief the thesis suggests that through the interaction of key policy actors at both the national and local levels, policy formulation and implementation is realised.

Globalization is changing the traditional models of family and family interaction. Considerable social, economic and demographic changes have taken place in advanced societies, leading to wide-ranging changes in the family. In Hong Kong, young people’s perception on family seems changing rapidly as well. This study attempts to explore and examine the possible effects of global culture and values on local Chinese cultural heritage with specific regard to young adults’ perceptions on marriage, parenthood and family obligation in the global world of late modernity where conditions of risks and uncertainties require careful illumination. The emphasis is upon the ways in which local Chinese culture responds to globalization from the perspective of family developmental theory and eco-systemic approach. The research is a cross-sectional multi-methods exploration of attitudes held by young people about family building in Hong Kong, utilizing focus groups, survey and individual interviews as the key research techniques. It adopts non-probability sampling in the three stages of the research that includes a mix of purposive and snowball sampling in six focus groups; quota sampling in a survey with 1132 young people being interviewed and purposive sampling in semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest that in Hong Kong society, traditional Chinese moral values are still emphasized and endorsed, but it is observed that some western global values have begun to take root and these values might, according to the findings, be increasingly represented within the Hong Kong young people’s values systems. Today young people experience challenges and changes in family-related roles and personal lifestyles. Complete transition to adulthood has been delayed with increased dependence on parents. The consequences of this for Hong Kong family life remains however an unfolding story. In addition, this study examines various constraints to family building and implications for new policy and programme responses are discussed as well.

The thesis looks at the communication between the management shore and crew on board vessels, and examines the role of such communication in influencing OHSM in two Chinese chemical shipping companies. The study was conducted in the shore offices of two companies, as well as on four of their chemical tankers. The data was mainly collected by semi-structured interviews, supplemented by field observations, informal discussions and document analyses. By examining major areas of communication closely related to OHSM, i.e., shore to ship communication for work support, shore to ship communication for management control, ship to shore communication for safety reporting, ship to shore communication for safety suggestions, the study presents the range of purposes behind communication between the two. The study shows that communication between shore management and ship’s crew is significantly influenced by divergent interests between the two. It reveals a set of socio-economic and cultural factors that underlie their communication. As a consequence, such communication has noticeable influence on crew’s shipboard working practices as well as indirect effects on crew’s health, safety and well-being. The findings of this study show that shore-ship communication is mainly in an asymmetrical form. It was generally disengaged with the concerns of OHSM. The communication contributed to an unfavourable working environment. The study suggested that communication achieved very limited outcomes for OHSM. The study concludes by calling policy makers as well as industrial practitioners to rethink the role of communication in effective OHSM and reshape maritime regulatory strategy in promoting OHSM in the global shipping industry.