The growth of personal indebtedness in the UK has become of increasing significance in the years following the 2007/8 global financial crises as both a public issue and within the personal troubles of individuals. What distinguishes contemporary personal debt is its relationship to the political and economic transformations of the last 30 years, characterised as the process of neoliberalization. This process is allied with a particularly virulent form of global financial capitalism that has increasingly come to dominate all aspects of society, from the institutional structures of civil society to the minutiae of everyday life. In order to draw out the main features of this process and its role in the normalization of debt, this thesis addresses two distinct, but interrelated questions: first, how has personal debt been framed through the promotion and dissemination of particular policy and public discourses?; and second, how have attitudes and behaviours towards personal debt been transformed as everyday cultural practices and understandings? First, the research is guided by the post-disciplinary approach of ‘cultural political economy’, using the concept of the ‘economic imaginary’ to identify the evolving material-discursive production of meaning in government policy-making that has framed personal debt. Second, the research examines how intersubjective meanings of personal debt have become resonant within everyday practices of credit and debt through a series of biographical narrative participant interviews. The two strands of research are brought together within a cultural political economy framework. This thesis demonstrates how established neoliberal embedding at policy-level has unswervingly framed a conception of ‘consumer freedom’ that involves increasing access to credit markets, but emergent extra-discursive situations have always constrained such framings. At the same time, increased access to credit has meant a greater acceptance of debt by people who negotiate these transformations by developing modes of calculation that reduce the moral complications of debt accumulation. However, it also involves being vulnerable to greater risks, as they are exposed to the same extra-discursive constraints.

Epilepsy is not just a medical condition but a social label; successful clinical treatment is therefore only one aspect of epilepsy management. However, the particular ways in which features of an individual’s background and clinical condition influence the impact that epilepsy has on them is not yet fully understood. The voice of the individual living with epilepsy is at the core of this study. Drawing upon research on illness narratives, this qualitative study is embedded in the perspective that knowledge construction relies upon the socially crafted tool of language which facilitates a broader range of perspectives and promotes greater subjectivity. I draw upon the illness stories of fourteen adults with epilepsy to explore how the condition impacts directly or indirectly on daily living and life trajectories, and to re-present the diverse nature and meaning of having epilepsy, including its stigma potential. I conducted in-depth interviews with seven male and seven female participants attending epilepsy outpatient clinics. Interview transcripts were subjected to paradigmatic and narrative analysis in order to examine thematic similarities and differences. Participant stories were identified using Mishler’s theoretical model of ‘Core Narrative’. Narrative encounters with participants reflected both their recent and more distant experiences of epilepsy. What emerged from the stories was a discourse of disruption and difference, with epilepsy often imposing barriers to daily living and to maintaining a positive sense of self as participants searched for meaning. While the stories told were uniquely individual, collectively a dominant plot was seen to emerge. For the adults with epilepsy in this study the plot takes the individual from a beginning of ‘discovery and diagnosis’, through the process of ‘searching for a cause’, ‘negotiating risk and uncertainty’, and, ‘striving for control’. As individuals communicate what is significant to them, attention to patient stories provides insight into how experience is constructed and evolves over time. Due consideration of such stories by health professionals can offer direction in which intervention(s) can occur to ensure the interests and needs of the individual with epilepsy are holistically considered and met.

This thesis examines the underlying health impairment and motivational processes associated with volunteer retention, commitment and satisfaction within the Special Constabulary. Recognising the need to understand the impact of organisational-type variables on the volunteer experience, as well as the unique occupational hazards associated with police work, a theoretical model of volunteer retention within the Special Constabulary is developed based on the framework provided by the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model. An online survey was distributed to volunteers serving at two Special Constabularies (N=272), with a follow-up survey sent out 6 months later (N=150). Secondary data analysis of volunteer workforce management data was also conducted to further understand the impact of operational duties on well-being and retention. Strong support for the effect of various job characteristics within the health impairment and motivational pathways was found. Longitudinal analysis also confirmed the existence of causal and reciprocal relationships between burnout, connectedness and outcome measures. The effects of burnout highlight the detrimental ways in which the demands of police work lead to the development of distancing behaviours. Burnout may therefore also have implications for the conceptual relationship between the Special Constabulary and the public. Volunteer work can however be motivational and offset the experience of burnout. Connectedness was influenced by organisational support and training, as well as on-the-job learning and the provision of challenging assignments. Importantly these findings suggest that rather than simply benefiting from the development of a favourable working environment, volunteers are also motivated to continue in their roles by the provision of job challenge. Overall these findings highlight the importance of job design in volunteerism. Providing volunteers with support, training and job challenge, whilst ensuring specials know what is expected of them and facilitating stronger working relationships with regular police officers has positive effect on retention.

This qualitative, phenomenological study focuses on the social construction of bereavement support in voluntary organisations. Three organisations were selected for the research project. These were an adult hospice, a local branch of Cruse, and PEAL (Parents Experiencing Adult Loss); an organisation unique to the locale at the time that the research for this study was conducted. Grounded theory research methodology was used to identify how these organisations construct their services. A key feature of this is their use of volunteers as bereavement supporters. The prime objective of the study was identification of the social construction of these three agencies. In particular the intention was to reveal features contributing to the shaping of their service provision. To this end the research design was developed with the aim of allowing respondents scope for self-expression. Twenty, one-to-one, face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted and audio-taped with self-selected respondents from the three agencies. The core category to emerge from the data was „boundaries‟ which was further divisible into commonly held properties classifiable as personal, professional, organisational and societal. Each of these were sub dividable, forming what might be referred to as a family tree. Underpinning this framework of boundaries is a common psychological approach to service provision which draws on the Freudian tradition in counselling. A further feature in their commonality is that of the profile of the volunteer workforce which is drawn largely from a mono-cultural, middle class sector of the community. The central contention of the thesis is that in this instance, boundaries have become a significant influence on the shaping of service provision. It is argued that an overriding individualist perspective can serve to ensure that traditional boundaries are established and maintained, making a more diverse approach to service provision difficult to attain. Key words: boundaries (personal, professional, organisational, societal); social construction; bereavement support; grounded theory; individualism; power; culture; volunteer motivation.

In regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR), this thesis has moved beyond the stakeholder theory of the firm and adopted the evolutionary theory of the firm, together with recognising the link between corporate governance and CSR. This thesis has considered the historical development of the essential principles of corporate governance (embraced within the concept of CSR) of a Multinational Corporation (MNC), namely British Petroleum (BP), and assessed the transfer of these evolved principles for promoting development in Africa. To effectively apply evolutionary theory, one must also recognise that firms are part of a co-evolutionary process. Recent academic contributions by co-evolutionary theorists have paid attention to MNCs as change agents at the sector level. However, this thesis has taken this further and considered BP attempting to engage in institutional co-evolution where a MNC acts as a change agent to the wider institutional regime to promote development. Cantwell et al (2010) suggested that MNCs can have a significant influence upon the institutional regime, and presented a framework for firm-level adaptation by MNCs influencing the wider institutional environment in the host countries where they operate. They developed a co-evolutionary framework linking historical changes in the character of MNC activities to changes in the institutional environment, focusing upon the scope for firm-level creativity and institutional entrepreneurship leading to successful institutional co-evolution. Therefore, this thesis has followed on from this and investigated whether BP can be an agent for change in Africa, using the example of Angola to highlight the process. A comparison was made with the new entrants into the market, China, to judge whether this influences BP’s ability to engage in institutional co-evolution. In addition, a comparative study of mining giant Anglo American was engaged in to highlight the appropriateness of BP’s CSR principles to the African setting. The thesis found that BP cannot successfully engage in institutional co-evolution because of an ineffective transparency initiative, whilst Chinese involvement has further diminished the ability to ii transfer sound corporate governance and CSR principles, particularly because Chinese resource-seeking investment comes with ‘no conditions attached’ concerning governance in host countries. In addition, the competitive nature of securing licences to operate forces oil MNCs to use their CSR packages strategically, and furthermore, the social consequences of environmental degradation due to oil sector operations means that local communities cannot sustain their livelihoods, which is a lesson that has not been learnt from historical evolution.

This thesis explores the football fan rivalry between the fans of Aston Villa and Birmingham City. Football fan rivalries are unique and complex, with each one being underpinned by various social, historical and/or cultural factors. Therefore, each rivalry should be studied in-depth in order to understand the underlying factors that shape oppositions and social identities. This rivalry has previously received no academic attention, despite these two being the main clubs in Birmingham, England’s second largest city, with a long history of intra-city rivalry since the first fixture between the two in 1879. The constructivist approach adopted perceived people’s knowledge, opinions, interpretations and experiences as meaningful properties of social reality and, thus, this study aimed to gather data from those who actually experience the rivalry – the fans. An ethnographic study was undertaken in order to elicit rich, qualitative data and to gain a deep and reality congruent insight into the complex factors that underpin the rivalry. Participant observation was conducted at matches involving Aston Villa and Birmingham City. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fans of the two clubs, with data being subjected to coding and a thematic analysis. Informed by a cultural studies framework that focused on the centrality of power, the analysis identified three central themes underpinning the rivalry. The first theme was the constant struggle between the fan groups over territory. Fans placed great value on being perceived to control certain areas, or even the whole city, in order to gain power (territorial capital) and become the dominant identity. This is particularly significant as a detailed exploration of territory has previously been absent from football rivalry literature. Secondly, tensions were based on the historical footballing success of Aston Villa, and on Birmingham City’s relative lack of success. Villa fans were perceived as the dominant group as the success of the team afforded them high levels of (sub)cultural capital. Thirdly, the contestation over power was informed by the perceived socio-economic status of each fan group, with Villa fans being perceived as more middle-class and Blues fans more working-class. These complex factors are continually contested and under negotiation, with the passion and intensity of the rivalry enduring as both fan groups battle for dominance. In addition to exploring this particular rivalry for the first time, this study has contributed to the limited but growing literature on rivalries, providing a clear methodological and theoretical framework for future research in this area, which was previously lacking.

A phenomenological approach was adopted to examine police officers’ experiences of U.K. critical incidents. In the U.K. police service, critical incidents (CI) are incidents with a significant impact on the confidence victims, families, and the public have in the police. Data were e-focus groups for: i) operational debriefs (n = 9) and ii) reviews of service delivery (n = 9). With professional participants throughout (N = 250), the project had considerable ecological validity. Experiences of three types of incident, Serious Crime (SC) (n = 6), Counter-terrorist (CT) (n = 6), and Non-criminal (NC) (n = 6) were examined. Three qualitative methods - thematic analysis, interpretative phenomenological analysis, and narrative analysis - provided triangulation of method. Different incident types and police forces provided data triangulation. Results showed that the most common themes revolved around relationships with partners and communities; staff welfare concerns were also highlighted. Common experiences obtained across incident types: exclusion and pressure of incident were negative experiences; professional image and serving victims and families were positive experiences. Differences specific to incident type also emerged: humour was unique to CT experiences and functioned to divert from trauma and reinforce social bonds; taking control was a feature of serious crime incidents; uncertainty was unique to NC incidents. Models of the impact on staff welfare and uncertainty are presented. A social identity model of transforming experiences is also presented. Narrative exemplars are presented: SC incidents had a Media monster narrative; CT incidents had a CONTEST quest narrative; NC incidents had a Cheshire cat narrative. Extant literature is discussed throughout. Findings are discussed in relation to social identity theory.

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the ramifications of the recent financial crisis on the retail banking providers’ cognitive and affective trust dimensions. In addition, the study aimed to consider the impact of different functional quality measures, e.g., complaint handling, customer engagement, staff engagement, branch presence and financial literacy on the reinstatement of customer trust. In doing so, this study offers and discusses empirical findings via a mixed methods approach where supporting data has been obtained from two focus group interactions, questionnaires completed by 508 banking customers and 20 semi-structured interviews conducted with banking officials in the UK.

Self-understanding is a fundamental aspect of psychological functioning. This study aimed to explore self-understanding in adolescents with autism spectrum conditions (ASC), adolescents with Down syndrome (DS) and adolescents with Williams syndrome (WS). The Self-understanding Interview was used to examine the verbal concepts and opinions of self of 45 adolescents (15 ASC, 15 DS and 15 WS). Adolescents with ASC generated significantly fewer social statements compared with adolescents with WS. There was a close comparability between adolescents with ASC, DS and WS on the number of self-as-object self-statements indicating similarities in the overall development of self-concept. The development of social self-understanding and its implications were discussed. The need for individually tailored interventions enhancing social skills promoting positive self-concept is highlighted.

Tourism is perceived as one of the world’s fastest growing service sectors and a major source of economic development and environmental and cultural conservation for many, if not all, developing countries. Within the context of sustainable development, community tourism is increasingly seen as an effective tool for engaging destination communities in the tourism development in the advanced countries, but it has failed to deliver in many Least Developed Countries (LDCs), such as Zanzibar. The concept has been developed and refined in the search for sustainable approaches to tourism development. However, its applicability to Zanzibar in particular seems not to have been considered in detail; the issue of whether community tourism can be effectively applied in Zanzibar remains uncertain. Consequently, there is a call for more research to determine the capitals that destination communities should acquire to implement community tourism. Hence, the objectives of this thesis are: (1) to conceptualize the theory of capitals as related to community tourism; (ii) to develop a conceptual capital assets model for community tourism; and (iii) to examine the general views of local communities toward the [proposed] capital asset model and to found out the appropriateness of the model for actualizing community tourism in Zanzibar. Methods used for data collection of this research were document study, focus groups, interviews, participant observation and household survey (triangulation approach). While the first three methods (qualitative methods) were used for construction of the model, the household survey technique (quantitative method) was used to explore the appropriateness of a model in the context of Zanzibar. The research population includes government officials, private tourism organisations and local people who were involved in the research in different settings. The critical destination capitals according to the findings are informal social networks (informal social capital), political capital and human capital; the three destination capitals lead to the generation of innovation capital which serves as the lifeblood for sustainable community tourism development. Moreover, limited access to physical, financial, and human capital are key concerns that need to be addressed, especially in rural areas of Zanzibar, as this was found to be a significant constraint to the implementation of community tourism. The research findings directly contest the extant body of literature reviewed in this thesis and have major implications for tourism development policies, signalling the need for adjustments at social, political and institutional levels. Following the household survey analysis, the central conclusion is that the developed conceptual model is a useful blueprint for sustainable community tourism development in Zanzibar; though further research opportunities are identified, especially is relation to the generalization of the conceptual model. The contribution of this research is to knowledge about the crucial destination community’s capital assets and their significance to community tourism development in Zanzibar. This understanding may bridge the gap between theories of community tourism and practice and may be adapted and applied in many developing countries, including broader perspectives of encouraging destination communities to take an active role in the tourism industry as developers rather than as wage earners.