The equation between society and the nation-state in sociology has been subject to severe criticisms in recent times. This equation has been given the name of ‘methodological nationalism’ and is underpinned by a reading of the history of sociology in which the discipline’s key concept, society, and modernity’s major sociopolitical referent, the nation-state, allegedly converge. At the critical level, my thesis argues that this is too restrictive a view of the history of the discipline and at the positive level it reconstructs the conventional version of sociology’s canon in relation to nation-states. The first part of the thesis surveys the main trends in the current sociological mainstream, reviews the rise of the critique of methodological nationalism and establishes a distinction between a referential and a regulative role of the idea of society in sociology. The body of the thesis constructs a history of the sociology of the nation-state in its classical (K. Marx, M. Weber and E. Durkheim), modernist (T. Parsons and historical sociology) and cosmopolitan (U. Beck and M. Castells) moments. As an essay on the history of sociology, this thesis seeks to uncover how the conceptual ambivalences of sociology reflect the actual ambivalences in the position and legacy of nation-states in modernity.

This thesis examines how association football evolved in Liverpool in the period before the Great War, and how the sport impacted on the lives of Liverpudlians during this period. Specific consideration is given in the first two chapters to the introduction of football to Liverpool and its progressive commercialisation. The third chapter examines the backgrounds of the city's professional footballers and their relationship with supporters and clubs. The role in Liverpool of amateur, semi-professional, and schoolboy football is considered in the fourth chapter. Identities form a common theme of the final chapters, which examine the local culture of football supporters and newspapers' relationship with the game. The study uses a wide range of primary and secondary sources, including some previously unconsidered evidence. It is argued that previous interpretations of the sport's introduction are misleading and that football actually originated as a Muscular Christian initiative by Cambridge educated clergy at the end of the 1870s. Despite this comparatively late introduction, political and business interests influenced football, and in Liverpool the sport underwent an intense process of commercialisation. Profit seems to have been a priority for the original Everton FC and its positive commercial prognosis led to the club's selection as a founder member of the Football League. The scale of importation of professional footballers by Everton and Liverpool football clubs was to the detriment of local talent, although the city's amateur game was thriving by the 1900s. Though football was immensely popular in Liverpool, the city's unusual social and economic demography meant that a significant proportion of its population were unable to attend professional matches, or to make a significant contribution to the amateur game. From the 1900s, attendances in Liverpool grew more slowly as major football clubs in other cities attracted more spectators.

Vocational training has attracted increasing attention over the past two decades both in theoretical and policy terms. This study set out to raise questions about the management of such training. Evidence from previous work suggests that policy makers responsible for training are faced with exogenous forces that make decision making prone to irrational choices. This study attempts to fill the gap in research on post entry screening by examining a series of longitudinal data. The approach has been through the use of interviews with trainees from selected industries (British Gas, the football industry and the provision of a public library service). Between them, these industries represent a large cross section of the British economy. British Gas is an example of a former nationalised industry that has been subsequently privatised. By contrast, the football industry is(and always has been) in private "hands". Finally, this study examined the provision of ICT training given to public library service personnel in both the UK and Finland. The aim, in all cases, was to assess whether resources devoted to training were used efficiently. A second aim was to locate the findings in the context of a debate between the neoclassical school of economic analysis and its institutional rival, especially Internal Labour Market theory. The evidence suggests that institutional theory explains post entry progression better than its neoclassical rival. Furthermore, the research also concludes that managers charged with the task of implementing training schemes frequently do not evaluate them and as a consequence, the stated aims of organisations' training strategies are not realised. This situation is likely to continue unless more thought is given to the issue of monitoring training carefully both at a micro and macro level. Ultimately, this research demonstrates that industry-wide (or macroeconomic) policies designed to increase employees' skills do not necessarily result in the desired gains at a local (or microeconomic) level.

This thesis assessed whether rape is an adaptive mating strategy. which was naturally selected for in our ancestral past. It investigated a number of constructs. namely: fertility value; victim-offender relationship; socio-economic status; rape proclivity; actual sexual aggression; and sociosexual orientation. There were two types of studies: studies 1-3 involved archival data, e.g. the use of criminal statistics. and studies 4-7 assessed participant data, e.g. rape attitudes. Study 1 found that fertility value (FV) was related to rape prevalence, as was reproductive value (RV). In addition, offenders with a nonreproductive sexual preference tended to rape a victim with a low FV. and offenders who committed a secondary offence tended to rape a victim with high FV. Study 2 found that there was a smaller number of offences committed against strangers and partners, and a larger number committed against step-relatives and acquaintances. More rapes were committed by low status than high status men. even when the base rate was accounted for. Study 3, showed that there was a relationship between the population gender ratio and rape prevalence. However. the covariable population density was positively related to rape prevalence. Study 4- found that there was more disapproval of a depicted rape committed by a low status offender. A low status offender who raped a victim with low RV attracted more disapproval. Study 5 showed that marital rape was disapproved of more than both stranger and acquaintance rape. Individuals with a short-term mating strategy disapproved of rape more than those with a long-term strategy, and a long-term strategist disapproved of a marital rape less than a short-term strategist. Study 6 found that those who possessed a promiscuous ideology perceived their future life to be limited, in particular the likelihood of being happily married. There was no relationship found between perceived future life and sexual aggression. In study 7. it was found that those who had a more unrestricted sociosexual orientation were more likely to have asymmetrical bodily traits (e.g. ear height. finger length). and that the right hand 20:40 digit ratio (a measure of prenatal testosterone)was significantly related to actual sexual aggression. Overall. there was partial support for rape as an adaptive mechanism. but the studics wcre also consistent with a by-product explanation of rape.

This thesis examines the economic aftermath of ethno-national conflict in a small European economy. Events in 1963 and 1974, led to the de facto division of a small nation-state, ethnically and geographically. Since the conflict, the different communities have remained on a war footing, having had no normal communications. For each, one of these watersheds is perceived as an economic catastrophe. The effect of arbitrarily dividing an already small economy was significant. It has been argued, however, that the large-scale uprooting of one community was seized on as a development opportunity, so the thesis examines the recovery mechanisms employed by both communities and assesses their relative economic impact. In a comparative context, economic growth and development are compared before and after de facto division, both across the ethnic division and with similar small and regional economies that have, in the period, largely retained conflict within the politicai process. Despite Problems, economic growth both sides of a UN Buffer Zone compare favourably with ali of the selected peer economies. However, with both communities having a clear perception of the cost of division, a dynamic model has been created to determine a benchmark for all-island, integrated economic growth. How would the economy have performed, if growth had not been disrupted by ethno-national conflict? How sustainable are two competing, non-communicating economies, sharing one small Mediterranean island?

This thesis addresses the interface between producers of new media and their audiences/users as it manifests itself in production. It is based on a case study of NESTA Futurelab (a production-research laboratory in educational new media) conducted in its first year of existence, as its staff sought to define the endeavour —'what it is for' and, more importantly, 'whom it is for'. Drawing on science and technology studies (STS) and media theory, this study challenges models of the producer-user interface which endorse 'technical mediation' in proposing alternatives to its three components — the use bias, overstated co-design and the ontological divide between producers and users. In response to the use bias, the study of Futurelab demonstrates that the producers' perceptions of their audiences (both users and partners) determine from the outset decisions as to the organization's purpose, structure, methodology and outputs. Overstated co-design is countered by uncovering the producers' downplaying of direct user involvement and any pretension to scientific methodology through which they engage the users. This study stresses the more pervasive practice of mediation whereby they represent the absent users. This is further conceptualized through their portrayal as 'experience-based experts' — the producers claim the ability to contribute substantively to production by virtue of their social experience, while minimizing their technical competence. Lastly, the presumed ontological divide between producers and users is contested by illustrating that the spheres of production and reception overlap in the producers' experience, which is reactivated on an ad hoc basis in production. Through notions such as 'reflexivity', 'prior feedback', 'producer-user overlap', `mediated quasi-interaction' and 'experience-based expertise', the producer-user interface is thus inscribed in the continuity of producers' social experience rather than being seen as an interaction purposely and strategically instated at a discrete moment. The most notable instances of continuity are captured by the producers' playing of the synthetic role of producer-user, which rests on the claimed proximity between production and other relevant social situations.

The argument of this thesis is that the legal liability of the administration in France and England, at first sight very different, is actually very similar. In France, the existence of a separate system of administrative courts with jurisdiction in delictual actions against the administration haG led to a division between public and private law. In practice, however, the distinction is less clear than might be supposed because the substantive rules of public and private law are very similar, while in some cases the State is answerable to the civil courts. Although French law is drafted in terms of general principle in contrast to the English common law, the existing rules of liability are not in practice dissimilar. Two theoretical bases of liability are, however, relatively novel: the risk principle (which applied to the administration can be used to impose liability for all unlawful or invalid administrative acts) and the principle of Equality before Public charges (which can be used as a theoretical basis for a system of administrative compensation). On examination, the adoption of these principles into English law is seen to necessitate a change in our traditional constitutional balance of power. Nor, in any event, are they actually the basis of the French system. Neither French nor English law is, at the end of the day, coherent and all—embracing. Both need to be buttressed by statutory and extra— statutory administrative compensation schemes. These should be seen as an acceptable and efficient substitute for civil liability and their development, co—ordination and rationalisation encouraged accordingly.

This dissertation sets out to fill existing gaps in the literature where the focus, nature and relationships of business support organisations are practically ignored, particularly in a Scottish context. The introduction sets the Scottish context and is followed by a critique of the ‘small’ business label, where it is argued that misleading and inappropriate labels are unhelpful for business support groups in targeting their membership and which services and supports to offer. The dissertation goes on to explore, in some depth, the focus, role and nature of business support organisations by providing a new typology of business support and a classification of communication orientations of business support organisations. In doing so, the activities of business support organisations are made clear, which is highly valuable in terms of exposing unnecessary duplication of services, and in understanding how the different business support organisations achieve their aims and objectives on behalf of members and clients. This in turn, may assist business support organisations in targeting their services more appropriately and to facilitate ‘small’ businesses in identifying which support organisations are complementary to their individual needs. The research draws several conclusions which have academic, practitioner and policy implications. A new contextualised definition of ‘small’ business is constructed, based on the argument that the label ‘small’ is inappropriate and unsuitable for the purpose of business support. A member/client profile for Scottish business support organisations is discussed, providing in turn, the opportunity to speculate on the focus of business support organisations in targeting and providing services for their members. The research also explores the localised nature of business support provision and delivery in conjunction with the local economic forum (LEF) concept, and the centrality of Scottish Enterprise to the Scottish business support structure is determined.

This study examines, comparatively, the effects of Zambia's post-colonial (1975 and 1995) land policy reforms on the urban land market transactions. It focuses on land delivery, land transfer and exchange, and land valuation and pricing. The central thesis of the study is that land policy reforms matter even for the urban land market. Proceeding from this premise, the study conceptualises the effects of land policy on the land market as one set of institutions (namely, land policy reforms) modifying or radically restructuring (and, hence, impacting on) the other set of institutions (viz. property rights and the land market generally). Grounded in the new institutional economics approach, the conceptual framework focuses on property rights, transaction costs and institutional change. The philosophical framework is post-positivist. Methodologically, the research design is largely qualitative and employs a multiple data collection and analysis strategy. Central to this methodological approach are the concepts of critical multiplism and triangulation. The overall research findings suggest, overwhelmingly, that land policy reforms matter to urban land market transactions. More specifically, the study finds that, in so far as land delivery is concerned, both the 1975 and 1995 reforms had a similar detrimental impact. However, their effects differed markedly in specific areas with regard to land transfer and exchange, on the one hand, and land valuation and pricing, on the other. In patticular, the latter reforms were less pernicious than the former. Consequently, the study recommends land policy reforms that minimise the policy-generated detrimental effects identified in the land market operations. The effects in question naturally revolve around property rights and transaction costs.

The GP purchasing role is considered in the light of two market policy objectives which are explored within the broader context of the nature of the purchase-provider relationship in terms of both its content and process. The two policy objectives, outlined in the Government's White Paper "Working for Patients" (Department of Health 1989), are that GPs would stimulate: (1) improved efficiencies in secondary care services; and (2) a transfer of resources from secondary to primary care. The study adopts a qualitative approach, gaining insight into purchasing relationships by way of interviews and non-participant observation, and by interpreting the data both inductively and deductively. Economic and social theories, in particular transactions cost theory and network theory, are used as a framework for the fieldwork and to inform the analysis and discussion. This thesis argues that GPs have fulfilled the two original market policy objectives of stimulating secondary care efficiencies and resource transfer from secondary to primary care. The means by which they have achieved this, however, is not via neoclassical contracts negotiated in a competitive market context, as market proponents envisaged, but through economically efficient, relational contracts within ideologically/culturally and socially embedded networks, for which the market policy has been a catalyst. These networks have developed at an inter-GP practice and at a purchase provider level, and are characterised by knowledge creation, innovation, learning, service (re)design, partnering and the pursuit of economic and social goals, in particular the enhancement of professional autonomy. The study affirms the need for a socio-economic perspective in organisational studies, and suggests directions for theory development and future research which can follow from this study and which will further understanding and analysis of network relations and of the NHS context in particular.