Antenatal education classes are a popular source of learning and support related to labour, birth and early parenthood for pregnant women and their partners. Although in the UK National Health Service (NHS) classes are the most frequently attended, the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), a registered charity involved in political lobbying, teaching and support related to maternity issues, offers a widely available alternative. The involvement of male partners within NCT antenatal education has raised questions, addressed in this study, as to how the male pedagogic subject is produced, recognised and realised within the instructional practice of NCT teachers, and the purpose it serves. Concepts drawn from Basil Bernstein’s theory of the pedagogic device influenced an empirical investigation that involved observing participants at an NCT antenatal course, combined with interviewing three antenatal teachers and analysis of official texts. The analysis helped identify the distinctive voice of the NCT, which sits in opposition to the prevailing medical and technical childbirth discourse. Analysis of the interview and observation data revealed how teachers recontextualised this discourse, in line with their own views and affective influences, to produce individually unique pedagogies, which in turn were found to produce and regulate specific subject positions for men during childbirth and the early days of fatherhood. The men’s recognition and realisation of subject positions was found to relate to the relationships and contexts produced by the pedagogy and their own affective coping strategies. The study adds to existing understandings of the transition to fatherhood and the relationship between discourse, pedagogy and subjectivities, and it proposes emergent theory about potential affective influences during the recontextualisation of pedagogic discourse. The findings also contribute to the development and practice of antenatal education for men.

In light of the increasing academic and practical importance of consumer confusion, more theoretical and empirical inquiries are necessary in order to comprehend this concept. This study extends the notion of confusion by adopting the idea of self-based rules. Confusion can be defined as a self-based track (or better a rule for the lack of rules and norms, a special case of anomy). As a rule, there is a differing language that can be used to describe it– the first, extensional, deals with confusion as an overall response to physical and social stimuli and the other, intentional, deals with it in terms of individual understanding and beliefs. This study uses the theoretical principles of the Behavioural Perspective Model (BPM) as its primary device. The current state of the BPM dictates the use of an extensional language (BPM-E). The model will be extended and placed within the framework and study of an intentional explanation (BPM-I). The explanatory or interpretative role that confusion can play in these models will be described. Specific research hypotheses that correspond to these explanations have been developed. In order to implement these objectives a main quantitative survey (N=260) which provided data on 520 consumer situations, has been informed by a meaningful in the produced results pilot-exploratory study (N=7) and multiple qualitative (N=10) and quantitative (N=56) pilot tests and discussions with knowledgeable and lay participants. Multiple regression and ANOVA indicate significant main effects when Mehrabian and Russell’s affective scales and different kinds of confusion (similarity-complexity) are used to predict approach-avoidance behavioural responses. Additionally, support is provided for the patterns expected from the affective and behavioural variables when these are applied to other situations beyond the original eight contingency categories of the BPM. The main contribution of this study lies with the inclusion of an aversive consequence of shopping situations in the BPM and the extension of the model towards embracing and applying intentionality. Overall, this study supports the supposition put forward by Foxall (2004; 2007a; 2007b; 2013) that the intentional BPM can add and extend the explanatory power of the extensional model.

UK society and the mainstream social sciences typically share the assumption that people need to hear and speak in order to function effectively in the social world. Hence, d/Deaf people are perceived as vulnerable individuals with sensory impairment, social disability, and biological invalidity; d/Deaf people are accordingly eligible for individualised welfare intervention. By contrast Deaf Studies, which this thesis draws upon, critically explores the relativity of linguistic conceptualisations and cultural norms and asserts that Deaf people are members of a purposive, political culture, with an independent British language and identity, comprising a British as well as an international collective, and are without impairment, disability or invalidity. The key research question that my research asks is what is the social position of the Deaf collective in the UK policy-making and political arena? That is, on whose terms is the societal inclusion of Deaf people and the broader Deaf collective to be based and understood? The scope of my inquiry comprises the personal views and professional ambitions of senior executives of Deaf-led third sector organisations, and also the perspectives of senior officers of relevant hearing institutions, and their understandings of their institutions' policies in regard to Deaf people and Deaf organisations. Data from these organisational elites was subjected to detailed narrative and thematic analysis which drew upon key concepts within interactionist and post-modernist thought. The thesis will uncover how third sector Deaf-led organisations face fundamental dilemmas in asserting their collective presence in order to promote their political aims. The analysis will suggest that the Deaf Collective both intellectually and operationally exists in a relatively non-intersecting system, without the wider institutional world noticing its presence. The thesis considers the consequences of this for policy and practice and offers suggestions for a more progressive understanding and involvement of Deaf people and their collective.

The thesis is an exploration of discourse on a particular type of familial child homicide referred to as ‘murder-suicide’ and often appearing to occur ‘out of the blue’. The purpose of the research is to contribute to social work understanding of the cultural context of murder-suicide through description and exploration of how murder-suicide is perceived and constructed in five specific cases. The empirical basis includes a narrative analysis of selected newspaper reports, semi-structured interviews with social workers using vignettes and semi-structured interviews with relevant professionals who had post-incident involvement in the cases. The structure of the thesis follows the format of an introductory chapter; a review of the literature relevant to murder-suicide, family ideology, childhood and the role of professional social work and the influence of the media on the creation of discourse; followed by a discussion of the research methods; and three empirical chapters concerned with narrative analysis of newspaper reports and interviews of social workers and relevant professionals. The thesis concludes with a chapter on the relevance to social work. The key theoretical perspectives are a focus on the social construction of social problems and the existence of multiple discourses. The thesis concludes that a single interpretation of murder-suicide is insufficient. Social workers in particular identify a range of social and individual factors, intertwined and difficult to disconnect from each other, that contribute to the actions of the individual in committing murder of their own children. Familiar discourses are identified within which the phenomenon of murder-suicide is described and made sense of, including gender roles, domestic abuse, power and control and mental health. The thesis concludes that for murder-suicide, like other forms of child abuse, social workers must give up ideas of omnipotence and accept the fallibility of social work in protecting all children.

China has witnessed the largest migration wave in human history since the initiation of economic reforms in 1978. Millions of migrants seek job opportunities and higher incomes in cities where economy booms. Without local permanent residential status (local hukou), migrants are subject to social and economic constraints. This thesis examines the extent to which migrants are disadvantaged and discriminated in Shanghai’s manufacturing sector. The thesis further explains the underlying reasons for such discrimination. Fieldwork in Shanghai comprised a random survey in 21 manufacturing companies, interviews with personnel managers and migrant workers. This allows for a full analysis of labour market outcomes for migrants from rural areas (rural migrants), migrants from towns and cities (urban migrants), and local workers. The results show that residential status has significant effects on occupations and wages, after controlling for other factors such as education and work experience. Both rural and urban migrants are disadvantaged in the urban labour market compared with local workers. But rural migrants suffer much more discrimination than urban migrants. The persistent link between local hukou status and jobs, access to social benefits and services results in continuing discrimination against migrants. Migrants’ positions are further depressed by the huge labour supply, migrants’ lower job expectations, their toleration of discrimination and companies’ violation of labour law. Hence, the thesis argues that the urban labour market in Shanghai’s manufacturing sector has remained divided between migrants and local workers, because barriers still exist preventing migrants from competing fully with local residents. Lastly, some policy recommendations are made to reduce labour market discrimination for both efficiency and equity.

Evidently, Korean dramas have become, within just a decade, one of the types of broadcasting content most in demand in many Asian countries, but this popularity, frequently called the Korean Wave, seems to have been obtained rather unexpectedly. This thesis examines how the Korean broadcasting industry succeeded in breaking into neighbouring markets over a relatively short period of time, and whether the Korean government played a certain role in supporting the fast acquisition of Korean dramas of Asian audiences. Through the analysis, using a combined research method, the thesis uncovers how the government’s support policies have not provided meaningful help for drama exports. Rather, the subordinate relationship of Korean broadcasters to the government and the relatively early marketisation of the Korean broadcasting industry have more efficiently stimulated Korean dramas’ entrance into neighbouring broadcasting markets.

This thesis is about the organization for action of a power bloc of multinational and associated interests, their policy of disruption of the Brazilian regime which took place from 1961 to 1964, and their subsequent take-over of the State. The thesis does not attempt to present a historical reconstruction of the period. Rather, it aims to bring new evidence to bear on the little known activity of individuals and organizations which were crucial in shaping the period in question and its aftermath. Chapter I outlines the formation of the populist polity, since the fall of the oligarchic state in 1930. Chapter II describes the economic ascendancy gained by multinational and associated interests throughout the 1950s under the political aegis of an industrial-oligarchic populist polity. Chapter III describes the corporate-political power structure of multinational and associated interests. The chapter examines the social and political agents who over a period of ten years shaped an incipient bloc of modernizing-conservative interests. The chapter also describes the different political means and administrative channels whereby the multinational and associated bloc was able to press its interests within the populist polity. Chapter IV describes the crisis of populism brought about by the political mobilization of the working classes and the militant action of the multinational and associated interests through their own political organizations. Chapter V examines the recruitment pattern, decision-making structure and organization for action of the organic elite of the multinational and associated interests, organized in IPES/IBAD. Chapter VI describes the ideological campaign of the organic elite against the regime and the working classes, and its attempts to indoctrinate the general public and in particular the dominant classes and the military. Chapter VII examines the political campaign of the organic elite among students, the female population, the middle classes, the peasantry, the industrial working classes, and the political parties. Chapter VIII describes the political campaign of the organic elite among the military and focuses upon the civilian-military movement which brought about the downfall of Goulart. Chapter IX describes the occupation of the state's key agencies of policy-formation and decision-making by the organic elite of IPES/IBAD. The thesis attempts to demonstrate how entrepreneurs and techno-entrepreneurs representing multinational and associated interests were an active force in Brazilian politics before and after the downfall of Goulart in 1964.

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This thesis examines longitudinally how young offenders cope with prison life, in particular the relationship between early coping styles and later levels of psychological health' and homesickness. The research was conducted in two parts. The first was a preliminary study to modify a homesickness questionnaire (Archer et al, 1998) for use within a prison population. The modified questionnaire (HQ-P) demonstrated good reliability. The second part consisted of the longitudinal study. This comprised three phases where individuals were assessed within two weeks of arriving into the prison system (phase one, N = 261), six weeks later (phase two, N = 133) and four to six months after phase one (phase three, N = 55). At each phase, individuals were asked to complete a coping styles questionnaire, psychological health and homesickness measures. A small number of the sample at phase one also took part in a semi-structured interview. This was to explore qualitatively their methods of coping, management of relationships and levels of support experienced within the first two weeks of arrival into the prison system. The results demonstrated that the use of emotional and avoidance coping within two weeks of arrival into prison was related to better levels of psychological health and lower levels of homesickness some six weeks and four to six months later. Individuals also demonstrated preferences for particular coping strategies that remained consistent across each phase. There are many implications of these findings. The first of these is the demonstration that levels of homesickness remain consistently high as time continues in prison. The study also reflects the importance of not labelling coping strategies as universally effective or ineffective, and allowing a more realistic exploration of their significance as a result. The effective early use of avoidance and emotional coping upon later levels of psychological health and homesickness would contrast against coping theory, that has previously regarded emotional and avoidance coping as hindering effective management of the stressor (Zeinder and Endler, 1996 and Menaghan, 1982). ___________________ 'Psychological health refers to symptoms expressed in the Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire (Crown and Crisp, 1966). These include depression, free-floating anxiety, obsessional and hysteric symptoms, also somatic symptoms which has a physical base. When discussing the findings throughout this thesis, references to psychological health are a combination of the above symptoms.

This thesis is concerned with the British neglect of education in Belize and the emergence of increased tensions between church and state, from the twin catalysts for social change of the 1931 hurricane and economic depression until independence in 1981. This conflict has revealed a contradictory web of power structures and their influence, through the medium of schools, on multi-cultural development. The fundamental argument is that despite a rhetoric- of-difference, a cohesive society was created in Belize rooted in the cultural values propagated through an often-contradictory church-state education system, and that Jesuit supremacy of Belizean education came too late to unsettle or exploit the grass-root forces of cultural synthesis. Racial conflict in Belize is more a matter of habitual rhetoric and superficial. The historiography of Belize falls broadly into two categories: Diplomatic and labour, nevertheless cultural and educational studies have developed most notably from Social Anthropology. An extensive literature review revealed that notwithstanding the emergence of a substantial historiography of education on the British Caribbean similar research has been neglected on Belize. Therefore, my own thesis fills a significant gap in the historiography of British Caribbean education. The PhD discusses the relationship between conflicting hierarchies within education and multi-cultural cohesion, not yet been fully attempted in any of the secondary literature. This is a proposition argued through substantial and original primary research, employing a mix of comparative empirical research and theoretical Sights influenced by historical sociologist Nigel Bolland to analyse the interactions of people at community level, the ubiquitous presence of the denominations, and political and hierarchical activities. The empirical data was initially collected from HMSO, and Colonial Office files at the Public Record Office. The principal methodological area of research for the PhD resulted from a visit to Belize to procure a quantity of oral testimony providing a 'history from below' as an extra dimension to the British Colonial perspective. The methodology for Part 3 (1964-1981) reveals shifts in the balance of power relying solely on oral evidence and archival/ecclesiastical records from Belize. Church historians have confirmed previous research into the latter to narratives. An important contributiog.to my area of study lies in the use of Belize as a central focus and the historical peculiarity of denominalisation, where, unlike the English system the church rather than the secular lobby won the contest for control in schools.