Traditionally, debates about digital exclusion have been concerned with a lack of access to the internet by certain groups. Currently, the debate is shifting towards quality of use. Yet, it remains unclear which processes underlie differences in digital inclusion. By combining macro, micro and meso theoretical perspectives, this thesis examines the influence of resources, context, confidence and social identity through the application of three different research elements: nine preparatory interviews; a survey with 730 students; and an experiment with 200 students from fifteen schools in the Greater London Area. The focus was on teenagers from different gender, ethnicity, physical ability and sexuality groups. The findings show that gender and context are important explanatory factors of internet use. At school, meso (social-identity) factors contributed to explaining internet use; at home, micro (psychological) and macro (resource) factors were more important. This suggests that schools offer equalising environments in which differences in digital inclusion based on socio-economics are evened out. The findings also suggest that personalised and anonymous use at school makes teenagers less vulnerable to peer-pressure. By contrast, anonymity increases undesirable uses at home especially for boys. The experiment shows that addressing teenagers in a neutral (anonymous) way might steer internet behaviour and the perception of skills in a nonstereotypical direction. Finally, the level of digital inclusion at the group level determined the effect of socioeconomic status on internet use. Internet use of (White and Asian boys') groups with high internet status was mainly influenced by macro and micro factors. Group processes and social identification also influenced those (girls, African Caribbean, and disabled) of low internet status. The processes behind internet use were found to be more consistent for digitally advantaged groups than for disadvantaged groups. The thesis concludes that theory regarding digital inclusion should be diversified to address different types of exclusion.

This research falls into two parts. The first part begins with some observations on the methods employed in the writing of intellectual history. These observations are essentially critical and lead on to a detailed discussion of some proposed alternatives. The first chapter does not claim to have solved difficult theoretical and methodological problems but rather to have made possible greater clarity and awareness of what the problems are o In the light of these considerations an examination is then made of the relationship between Darwinian Biology and the major social doctxine claiming inspiration from it, namely~ Eugenics. With reference to this connection the central argument maintained is that there were systematic links between Darwinism and Eugenics o An attempt is made to analyse those links firstly by examination of certain theoretical features of Darwinism itself and secondly by an examination of the misreadings of Darwinism practised by Eugenics o This analysis is complemented by a detailed investigation of the structure of Eugenic thought as it appeared in Britain before the First World Waro The second part then extends this general picture by means of a number of case studies of Eugenic thinking and action on specific issues. The issues studied are those at the centre of controversy. during the period namely pauperism, alcoholism and mental deficiency. The priority in these case studies is the further development of the account of Eugenic thought but in each case there is an attempt, firstly to assess the impact of the Eugenic idea on public opinion and secondly, especially in the case of mental deficiency, to assess what legislative impact, if any, the Eugenic idea may have had.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse directors' incentives in large companies in Japan and the UK, with particular emphasis on the relationship between corporate governance and executive compensation. This thesis seeks to contrast the effect of corporate governance on the determinants of executive pay, by comparing the UK and Japan. Firstly, this research estimates the determinants of executive compensation in Japan. We find a positive relationship between an employee's wage and a director's salary, which is consistent with our hypothesis that both directors and employees are paid in similar ways. In contrast, this research can not find any relationship between shareholders' return and directors' pay in Japan, suggesting that directors have little incentive to pursue shareholders' interest. In contrast, this research finds that top pay in the UK is positively correlated with most company performance variables, including profit, stock market capitalisation and sales, which is consistent with our hypothesis that shareholders in large UK companies have relatively strong powers to control top managers and their compensation through remuneration committees. This research also analyses the effects of company's pay policy on corporate performance. Our analysis on data from the UK shows that there is a positive relationship between `company's pay policy' and firm performance. The company with an annual bonus scheme is more likely to improve company profit and earnings per share, for example. In contrast, there is no relationship between pay-performance sensitivity and firm performance in Japan, showing that the performance-pay sensitivity does not affect company performance in Japan's large companies, or the directors in those companies are not motivated by the change in performance-pay sensitivity.

This was an exploratory applied study in which an instrument was developed based on Myers-Briggs (1985); Belbin (1891); Rogers (1983); Spence (1995), and Grunig (1997), for the purpose to investigate communicative behaviour of management guru product adopters. The research developed a predictive instrument of limited application, and brought together many writers theories on adopters of new ideas in a creative and diagrammatipal way. The study showed that there were communicative behavioural traits exhibited within the participating group, represented by intuition and attitude. The instrument used, whilst recognisably limited, may be applied to situations of selection, training and development. This has implications for the management of organisational learning.

This PhD thesis examines a range of intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamics surrounding the concept of learner engagement. It does so by critically investigating a visual arts initiative delivered to a small group of Key Stage 3 students at a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) in the North‐West of England. Participating students took part in an artist‐led workshop which aimed to enrich the school’s pre‐existing curriculum by expanding the range creative art activities available to students and by thematically integrating these activities with topics previously covered in other subject lessons. In order to permit a more in‐depth investigation of the educational experiences of these participants, a single‐case study design was employed whereby multiple sources of evidence were analysed in accordance with two key theoretical perspectives in the psychology of educational engagement. Self‐determination theory was drawn upon in order to consider individual‐level units of analysis and cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) was employed in order to consider the wider contextual factors that might influence the overall efficacy of the programme. Using a mixture of methods (i.e., questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations) allied to each perspective, staff and students’ perceptions of their school environment were examined in order to identify how they had developed their own experientially‐based understanding of what constitutes learner engagement within their particular educational environment. From here the analysis moves on to critically comparing the everyday classroom experiences of the students as they participated in the art initiative with that of students participating in subject lessons. By evaluating an educational initiative of this nature with respect to two prominent theoretical perspectives on student engagement, a more in‐depth understanding is developed on the psychological processes underpinning learners’ engagement amidst the everyday complexities that surround alternative educational environments. The results have implications for how teachers in this context reflect upon their practice.

The thesis explores the experience of pain for people who live with chronic pain and engage in BDSM1 (or ‘kinky’) pain play. It is situated within disability studies, taking the position that chronic pain is a disability, and in the use of crip theory to explore narratives of experience. The narratives, told through multiple, detailed interviews were explored in the contexts of crip theory, disability, and medical and social understandings of pain. The thesis addresses three core aims; firstly, to hear narratives of experiences of chronic pain and BDSM play. Secondly, to explore those narratives to reveal experiences and understandings of pain sought by those who live with chronic pain and also engage in BDSM. Finally, to challenge normative conceptions of pain through a critical crip reading of the narratives. The narratives revealed a range of complex experiences. I drew out these narratives in three broad themes: the role of crip time in living with chronic pain; the multiple uses of BDSM – including pleasure and control of the self – and the role of stigma and abjection. The thesis has made a number of original contributions to knowledge. Firstly, it revealed how pain is discursively constructed as needing control and containment, but how non-normative methods of control and bodily engagement are not necessarily understood as such. Secondly, the thesis exposes how pain is assumed to be wholly destructive to the self, but instead ways to integrate pain into the self are sought. Thirdly, it adds to crip theory by expanding the notion of crip time to reflect the experience of living with chronic pain. Finally, by demonstrating how the narratives challenge understandings of the ‘normal,’ as reflected in discourses of chronic pain. The thesis thus exposes how normative constructions of pain are a part of the performance and construction of able-bodyminded heterosexuality.

It has been suggested that task-switching costs can be eliminated if participants memorise all stimulus-response mappings thereby avoiding task-switching altogether (Dreisbach, Goschke & Haider, 2006, 2007; Dreisbach & Haider, 2008). This has been labelled the “Look-Up Table” (LUT) approach. It has also been suggested that the LUT approach could potentially explain why animals such as monkeys (Stoet & Snyder, 2003; Avdagic et al., 2013) and pigeons (Castro & Wasserman, 2016; Meier, Lea & McLaren 2016) were able to perform task-switching without showing any task-switching costs (Dreisbach, et al., 2006, 2007; Dreisbach & Haider, 2008; Forrest, Monsell & Mclaren, 2014). In a series of eight experiments the following two questions were addressed: (1) Why do some participants show significant task-switching costs even when they do not switch between tasks (e.g., Forrest, Monsell & Mclaren, 2014)? (2) Can the LUT approach explain the absence of task-switching costs? In an attempt to answer both questions different sources of human task-switching costs are investigated in eight behavioural experiments. Chapter 1 provides an overview of different task-switching paradigms and accounts to explain task-switching costs. Chapter 2 summarises previous attempts to remove human task-switching costs. Evidence for the absence of task-switching costs in animals is also introduced. Following up on previous studies that suggested the LUT approach can explain the absence of task-switching costs, I conducted two task-switching experiments using visual tasks (i.e., colour task and shape task) with bivalent stimuli in an attempt to re-examine the conclusions of previous LUT studies (i.e., Dreisbach, et al., 2006, 2007; Dreisbach & Haider, 2008; Forrest, Monsell & Mclaren, 2014). The results in Chapter 2 indicate that human participants cannot always eliminate task-switching costs and do not always apply the LUT approach when the task-switching strategy is controlled. Therefore, the experiments in Chapter 3 and 4 sought to ascertain the requirements for eliminating task-switching costs when using the LUT approach. The experiments in Chapter 3 applied visual tasks where each task had a different stimulus-set. Experiments in Chapter 4 applied two classical mathematical tasks (i.e., big/small task, odd/even task) and used Chinese numbers as stimuli. The results of the experiments in Chapters 3 and 4 suggest that human participants must be able to give the correct answer without processing task-relevant features from the stimuli in order to eliminate task-switching costs. In the experiment of Chapter 5 the cue-stimulus-response mappings from Experiments 2.1 and 2.2 were rearranged so that switching between conventional tasks and rules became impossible. The results suggest that task-relevant features can trigger interferences thereby causing “task-switching costs” even when participants do not switch between tasks. In Chapter 7, I compare a modified interference account, introduced in Chapter 5, with the compound retrieval account (e.g., Logan & Schneider, 2010) and associative learning account (Forrest et al., 2014; Meier et al., 2016) in order to explain why human participants show task-switching costs even when they do not switch between tasks. I conclude that the modified interference account provides an alternative explanation. It has been proposed that only humans are affected by strong and long-lasting interference from previous trials during task-switching. As a consequence, this interference may explain why human participants consistently show task-switching costs whereas monkeys and pigeons show no task-switching costs.

The past decade has seen increasing research interest in compassion to self and others, both as a construct and a likely precipitant of psychological wellbeing. A growing literature base suggests that psychotherapeutic interventions aimed at increasing self-compassion can help to alleviate negative effects often associated with shame and self-criticism. Compassion-focused interventions have subsequently been proposed for populations likely to experience heightened shame. Despite the interest in this area, only limited research has attempted to explore how compassion is understood and experienced among varying populations. Research that has been undertaken has tended to adopt quantitative approaches, utilising self-report measures validated with well-educated, often academic, populations. There is clearly a need for the construct of compassion to be explored with other populations, particularly those who may be disadvantaged and/or at risk of heightened levels of shame. One such population is young people who have come to the attention of services for engaging in harmful sexual behaviour (HSB). This research therefore intended to fill this gap and extend the existing literature base on compassion by employing a qualitative approach. Nine young people (8 males, 1 female) aged 14-18, who were receiving input from youth offending services for HSB, were recruited for this research. Each participant took part in a one-off interview where they were asked about their understanding and experiences of compassion to and from self and others. Adopting a Constructivist Grounded Theory methodology, data were analysed through an iterative process of constant comparison, leading to the construction of a substantive theoretical model grounded in the data. The resultant model explicates the dynamic and relational process of compassion to self and others experienced by young people who have engaged in HSB. The model is considered in relation to existing literature and implications for clinical practice are discussed, along with directions for future research.

Domestic abuse is a public health issue with long term health and social consequences for its victims. The prevalence of domestic abuse among women seeking healthcare is higher than in the general UK population and often begins or worsens in pregnancy. Health visitors, because of their role with pregnant women and mothers are in a key position to offer both supportive interventions and to play a preventative role in domestic abuse. The aim of this research is to improve understanding of issues health visitors face when working with Pakistani mothers living with domestic abuse. The study is set in the north of Britain in an area that has experienced chain migration and settlement from the Mirpur and Faisalabad regions of Pakistan since the 1970s. Taking a qualitative approach and informed by a critical realist perspective, first-hand accounts from health visitors working in the area are used. The findings of the study confirm that domestic abuse perpetrated against some Pakistani mothers is a complex aspect of health visiting practice compounded by deep rooted cultural and social practices within many Pakistani families. The key challenge health visitors face appears to be non-disclosure of abuse by many Pakistani women and the main approach taken by health visitors in this situation is predominantly one of harm minimisation. Inconsistencies in practice were however noted. Three overarching themes were found from the analysis of the data which depict the challenges health visitors face and the endeavours they take to keep women safe. The theme of Presence depicts a range of actions linked to ‘seeing’ or ‘being with’ women and includes carrying out repeated enquiry into abuse. Role Strain describes how the health visitors express difficulty in fulfilling the various demands and expectations of the role. The term Covert Actions encompasses a range of seemingly hidden or concealed activities undertaken by health visitors in an endeavour to maintain Presence. The study provides useful insight into the forms of evidence many health visitors deem can legitimately inform their clinical interventions when working with this population group and succeeds in extending current understanding of the types of knowledge health visitors draw from to inform their decisions in this specific area of practice. It also provides awareness of the wider challenges health visitors can encounter when working more generally among collectivist and honour-based communities and raises questions about some of the philosophical assumptions usually associated with Western models of healthcare. Implications for practice are that mainstream domestic abuse interventions should be used with sensitivity to the different cultural contexts in which many Pakistani mothers live, and attempts should be made to develop appropriate interventions that derive from those contexts. This includes holistic assessment tools that are flexible enough to allow clinical judgements to be informed by the more subjective elements of evidence gathering and which take into consideration the impact of the multiple oppressions some women encounter. Recommendations for service providers are that they should take a broader view of domestic violence that recognises ‘difference’ and therefore enables health visiting interventions to be flexible and responsive to differing need. This includes considering more community-based interventions among certain population groups.

This thesis quantitatively examines the extent to which UK corporate governance (CG) reforms have been effective in constraining excessive executive pay (EP) and enhancing CG compliance and corporate performance/valuation for 100 UK non-financial listed companies over the period 2008-2013 (i.e., 600 observations). In particular, this study aims to: (i) examine compliance and disclosure levels of CG rules contained in the 2010 UK Combined Code; (ii) examine factors that determine compliance and disclosure levels of CG recommendations contained in the 2010 UK Combined Code; (iii) investigate CG’s influence, using both the composite-CG-index and the individual-CG-variable models, on corporate performance/valuation; (iv) analyse the interaction effect of ownership structure variables on the UK CG index (UKCGI)-Performance nexus; (v) examine the impact of firm-level CG quality on executive pay (EP), using both models; and (vi) investigate that the interaction effect of ownership structure variables on the UKCGI-EP relationship. Firstly, this study employs one the most extensive hand-collected datasets on CG compliance and disclosure practices comprising 120 CG provisions extracted mainly from 2010 Combined Code to examine the level and the antecedents of CG compliance and disclosure. The results suggest that there is still substantial variation in CG practices among the UK firms. The study also finds that firm-level voluntary CG disclosure is significantly influenced by ownership structure and board characteristics. Secondly, and with regard to the third and fourth objectives, the findings indicate that firm-level CG quality, proxied by the UKCGI, is positively linked with both Tobin’s Q (Q-ratio) and return on assets (ROA), but has no significant link with total shareholder return (SR). Additionally, the findings obtained from the individual-CG-variable model are mixed. For example, and briefly, board size and board independence are statistically significant and positively related to Q-ratio, whereas other variables are either insignificantly or natively related to Q-ratio. The findings also suggest that, ownership structure variables moderate the association among the UKCGI, Q-ratio and ROA, but have no moderating effect on the UKCGI-SR nexus. Finally, and in terms of the final two objectives, the findings indicate that UKCGI is negatively related to executive pay (EP). Similarly, and using the individual-CG-variable model, the results are mixed. For example, and briefly, board size, board independence and board diversity are negatively related to EP, whilst other mechanisms are either insignificantly or positively related to EP. The findings also suggesting that ownership structure variables moderate the UKCGI-EP nexus.