Issues of ‘wellbeing’ and ‘happiness’ are becoming more and more prevalent in discussions of social policy and in the provision of healthcare services. In recent years, the maximisation of a nation’s ‘happiness’ has emerged as both a key policy objective and as a central focus within social, political and economic research, with public policy makers around the world having demonstrated a growing interest in national accounts of ‘wellbeing’. In the UK context, this growing interest is comprised of a perceived need to ‘know’ ‘happiness’ and ‘wellbeing’ better, so that they might be maximised. Such attitudes and beliefs made possible the introduction of four new questions to the Annual Population Survey that were specifically designed to measure the UK’s “subjective wellbeing” (now referred to as “individual life satisfaction” following revisions in subsequent years). In addition to this, in 2010 a non-profit organisation named Action for Happiness (AfH) was founded which sought to maximise the ‘happiness’ of society by offering individual members help and training towards living a ‘happier’ life - an endeavour which is understood to be necessitated by the stagnation of ‘happiness’ in modern Western societies. This thesis seeks to critically account for the emergence of such social and political practices – or ‘happiness agenda’ - and does so from a poststructuralist, post-Marxist standpoint. This is achieved by utilising the specific methodological strategy developed by Glynos & Howarth (2007) which constitutes a retroductive, deconstructive, approach to accounting for socio-political phenomena. In doing so, three types of logics underpinning these practices are identified, presenting an explanation as to what, how and why these practices are. Accounting for the emergence of such a ‘happiness agenda’ enables it (and its emergence) to be critiqued – specifically, the notion contained within it that maximised individual ‘happiness’ constitutes social progression. Indeed, central to the critique of the ‘happiness agenda’ that this thesis presents is an acknowledgement of the need of a socio-political equality agenda, where ‘social progression’ is instead conceptualised as maximised social equality.

This thesis explores how performance measurement in organisations is effected by the human value systems of those concerned with measurement. Its origins lie in the observation that despite many efforts to devise useful measures of performance, problems continued to exist. It was subsequently hypothesised that problems are generic rather than job specific. This led to research in four very different organisations and the consequent exploration of human values theory in a systemic context. For the purpose of this thesis performance measurement is taken to be any form of assessment of organisation or individual accomplishment. Such measures may stand alone, be combined with others or checked against a pre-set standard When combined they are often referred to as performance indicators or league tables. Values are beliefs about what seems right and important; they are not necessarily virtues. People, families, societal and work organisations all possess value systems. Values are inculcated early in the life of both humans and organisations and are reinforced over time and experience. Both individuals and groups typically hold more than one value, usually they have combinations that form value systems. Human values theory is linked to systems science by investigating the behaviour of groups of values. It is argued that value systems have the emergent properties of attitudes and behaviours. These are essentially a response to other values and value systems. This emergence is likely to be unpredictable when faced with unfamiliar, cogent or inflexible norms. Consequently it is not only important to be clear about the value systems embodied in performance measurement but also those rated highly by those being measured This thesis concludes that performance measurement needs to be more closely matched to the values of the people being measured if it is to be successful. It is argued that singling out individual values is not the most useful way of applying values theory as changes occur swiftly and subconsciously in human activity systems. Instead it is proposed that statements representing world-views give a better picture of the environment into which performance measurement might be introduced. A selection of such value statements are suggested here but it is stressed that these need to be adapted to the organisation concerned in order to be most useful. These can be used to assess priorities but should at all times be considered in combination with other values so that emergence is not ignored.

This thesis investigates some of the practices by which interactants engage in responding to an informing in Greek talk-in-interaction. Using the analytical methodology of Conversation Analysis (CA), I investigate the ways in which responses to informings are typically constructed and how speakers recruit the assistance of their interlocutors in order to format their following action by examining the following particles: entaksi (mainly in the beginning of a turn), ne (=yes) with a questioning prosody, ela + name (sometimes incremented with the Greek particle re), bravo, etsi den ine (a form of tag question in Greek) and etsi in the final position of a turn. The analysis focuses on the sequential and social implications of these particles in interaction and suggests that there are certain resources interactants deploy in response to an informing, especially in turn-initial position, to indicate their stance towards the prior turn. Interlocutors deploy different practices in talk that serve the avoidance of conflicts, especially in the context of interactions between friends and intimates. The tokens under investigation are deployed by recipients of an informing to position themselves towards a prior turn but at the same time indicate the degree to which they accept the informing, absolute agreement or preliminary to a disagreement. As the first conversation analytic investigation of information receipts in Greek talk-in-interaction, this study attempts to illustrate the interactional significance of receipt tokens in the organization of talk and the accomplishment of actions in interaction.

This thesis consists of three substantial chapters on topics related to occupational and industrial mobility. Using quarterly data of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) from 1992 to 2013, Chapter 2 documents the mobility across occupations and industries (referred to as career change). The findings suggest that occupational and industrial mobility are surprisingly high. Both occupational and industrial mobility are procyclical. The majority of instances of career change are associated with wage growth. During an expansion, a career changer's wage grows more than someone who stays in their career. However, this does not apply if the career changer was unemployed and then hired during a recession. The evidence suggests that career mobility during a business cycle is important for understanding the labour market flows and wage growth. The use of interviewing method may affect the accuracy of the data. The dependent interviewing is introduced in the survey, and is helpful in reducing the measurement errors. Chapter 3 uses data from British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and UK Household Longitudinal Survey (UKHLS) to examine the robustness of the results obtained by using LFS. The procyclicality of occupational and industrial mobility are reassured when the change of interviewing method is controlled for. The further detailed occupational and industrial classification is applied, and the pro-cyclicality of occupational and industrial mobility is found in the further detailing of classifications. Given the solid evidence found in Chaper 2 and 3, Chapter 4 develops a theoretical model to understand the mechanism of workers' reallocation. Aggregate productivity shock, sectoral productivity shock and preference shock are included in order to investigate reallocation through business cycle, net mobility and gross mobility respectively. This model shows the procyclicality of gross mobility between sectors, which is consistent with the findings in Chapter 2 and 3. This chapter also explains the higher level of unemployment during recession. This thesis undertakes a comprehensive analysis of the occupational and industrial mobility in the UK using both empirical and theoretical methods. Limitations of this thesis and suggestions for future research are provided.

When observers’ own face is stroked in synchrony, but not in asynchrony with another face, they tend to perceive that face as more similar to their own and report that it belongs to them. This “enfacement effect” appears to be a compelling illusion and also modulates social cognitive processes. This thesis further examined the effect of such synchronous multisensory stimulation on physical and psychological aspects of the self. Chapter 2 explored whether multisensory facial stimulation can reduce racial prejudice. White observers’ faces were stroked with a cotton bud while they watched a black face being stroked in synchrony. This was compared with a no-touch and an asynchronous stroking condition. Across three experiments, observers consistently reported an enfacement illusion after the synchronous condition. However, this effect did not produce concurrent changes in implicit or explicit racial prejudice. Chapter 3 explored whether a similar enfacement effect can be elicited with a novel gaze-contingent mirror paradigm. In this paradigm, an onscreen face either mimicked observers’ own eye-gaze behaviour (congruent condition), moved its eyes in different directions to observers’ eyes (incongruent condition), or remains unresponsive to the observers’ gaze (neutral condition). Observers experienced a consistent enfacement illusion after the congruent condition across two of three experiments. However, while the mimicry of the onscreen face affected observers’ phenomenological experience, it did not alter their perceptual self-representations. A final experiment, in Chapter 4, further investigated the cognitive locus of the enfacement effect by using ERPs. Observers were exposed to blocks of synchronous and asynchronous stimulation. ERPs were then recorded while observers were presented with images of (a) a synchronously stimulated face, (b) an asynchronously stimulated face, (c) their own face, (d) one of two unfamiliar filler faces and (e) an unfamiliar target face. Observers consistently reported an enfacement illusion after the synchronous condition. However, this enfacement effect was not evident in ERP components reflecting early perceptual encoding of the face (i.e., N170) or subsequent identity- and affect-related markers, such as the N250 and the P300. Altogether the results of this thesis show that it is possible to enface a face, even when it belongs to a different ethnic group to that of the observer. This effect is such that observers report that the enfaced face belongs to them. Interestingly, a similar phenomenological enfacement experience can be obtained with gaze-contingent mirror paradigm. However, this enfacement effect seems to be too short-lived to be reflected in ERP components.

Drawing on research and theory (discussed in Chapter 1) emphasising cognitive-ecological interaction and sampling processes in judgment (e.g., Fiedler, 2000), the present research investigated the role of social sampling (Galesic, Olsson & Reiskamp, 2012) in preferences for wealth redistribution. Two studies (Ch. 2) provide evidence that social sampling leads wealthier people to oppose redistributive policies. Wealthier participants reported higher levels of wealth in their social circles (Studies 1a and 1b) and, in turn, estimated wealthier population distributions, perceived the distribution as fairer and were more opposed to redistribution. Study 2 (Ch. 2), drawing data from a nationally representative survey, revealed that neighbourhood-level deprivation – an objective index of social circle wealth – mediated the relation between income and satisfaction with the economic status quo. In Studies 3a and 3b (Ch. 3), participants experimentally presented with a low (high) wealth income sample subsequently estimated poorer (wealthier) population distributions, demonstrating reliance upon the novel samples. The effect of the manipulation on redistributive preferences was sequentially mediated via estimated population distributions and fairness, such that participants shown a high wealth sample estimated less unequal (3a) or wealthier (3b) distributions, perceived the distribution as fairer and were more opposed to redistribution. Studies 4a and 4b (Ch. 4) tested whether warning against social sampling, providing an alternative sample or both interventions together might serve to reduce social sampling. Whereas providing an alternative sample alone was sufficient to eliminate social sampling (4a and 4b), providing a warning had no effect (4a), and providing both an alternative sample and a warning lead to an increase in social sampling (4a and 4b). Taken together, the findings suggest that a) social sampling produces systematic differences in wealthier and poorer peoples’ perceptions of the income distribution, b) social sampling contributes to divergence in the economic preferences of wealthy and poor and c) social sampling is likely immune to deliberate control efforts.

Background and Aim: The spiritual lives of people with ID has been under researched (Swinton, 2002; Turner et al., 2004) and as yet, no research has been carried out comparing faith-based and non-faith-based services for people with ID. This research explores and compares a faith-based care organisation with a non-faith based care organisation with the aim of investigating the significance of spiritual/religious based principles as modes of care to the quality of life of individuals, acknowledging that non-faith based care providers may provide ‘a spiritual/religious environment’, explicitly or non-explicitly. Method: A mixed-method design using both qualitative and quantitative methods was utilised. Six months were spent volunteering within each community in order to engage in participant observation of both care organisations. Quantitative methods included the Quality of Life Questionnaire; Self-esteem Scale and the Social Network Guide in addition to semi-structured interview schedules. Results: People with ID were found to enjoy spiritual/religious based activities, with spirituality being an important aspect of their quality of life. Staff from the non-faith based service provided religious spiritual care mainly through church attendance, whilst staff from the faith-based service provided both religious and non-religious spiritual care. Staff from both care services reported that practical implementation of spiritual/ religious care tended to be overridden by legalistic administrative tasks, communication issues and staff availability. Conclusion: There is a need for ID services to not only acknowledge but also facilitate spirituality in the lives of people with ID.

This thesis examines the experiences, circumstances and difficulties faced by young homeless people residing in hostels in the county of Kent, South East England, especially those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ). My research suggests that there is an increase in LGBTQ youth homelessness due to young people 'coming out' at younger ages than before and encountering difficulties in their family homes that lead to their homelessness. I refer to this as 'the paradox of progress'. Due to political advances in gay rights and an increased media presence of charismatic LGBTQ proponents, youth are changing their outlook on sexuality and gender identity, but paradoxically due to generational differences, some meet adversities at home. Yet, this research also shows that an ensuing prevalence and increase of LGBTQ youth in homeless hostels across the county is a significant concern that thus far has been overlooked. In this thesis I demonstrate that youth homelessness is distinct from adult homelessness and is often misunderstood. Using data obtained through anthropological fieldwork over a period of one year, combined with my professional experience as a support worker working in local homeless hostels for over eight years, I examine and analyse the structural violence and inequalities that young people encounter as they attempt to cope with their homelessness caused by various factors such as deprived family backgrounds, class and a housing crisis that has predominantly affected disadvantaged youth. The long-term dedicated ethnographic fieldwork approach of my research has enabled me to glean insights about current ideas about home, homelessness, and also experiences of young people who live in difficult circumstances, subsequently enabling this research to challenge contemporary understandings of and responses to youth homelessness. Homeless youth navigate their lives in localities where ideas of 'home' hinge upon idealised heteronormative family life trajectories and generalised stigmas of youth homeless as beggars, rough sleepers or substance misusers and as culpable for their own predicaments. In this thesis, I discuss how the lack of or slim options for housing and support available to homeless youth in Kent, reflect upon how the State and the general public homogenise and stigmatise youth who are from working class backgrounds, thus creating further disadvantages that subject them toward structural violence. The anthropology of youth literature (e.g. Wulff 1995, LeVine and New 2008, Peluso 2015) suggests that the agency of young individuals should not be underestimated or subsumed under broader adult studies but that their lives ought to be studied in their own right. My ethnographic data contributes to such literature and further engages the anthropology of home, gender and sexuality to understand the issues that come together to comprise contemporary youth homelessness in Britain. Ethnographic research is well suited to explore intimate topic such as sexuality and homelessness, and thus far anthropologists have not studied LGBTQ youth homelessness. To date, the monitoring of sexual orientation and gender identity in the voluntary sector uses unrealistic figures that obscure the severity of LGBTQ youth homelessness. Subsequently LGBTQ individuals are not recognised by funding bodies and the State as a significant population and therefore resources are not allocated to alleviate their challenges and/or support them. This thesis argues that a prominent reason for LGBTQ youth homelessness is the paradox of progress; that the broader political advances in LGBTQ rights are not yet resonating in the reality and lived experiences of LGBTQ individuals in Kent. Young people who are both homeless and a sexual or gender minority, experience exclusion by living outside of the norm in terms of their sexuality/gender identities, as well as living outside of normative institutions such as, the educational system, home and the family. Furthermore, I suggest that conflicting generational views toward 'alternative' sexualities and genders contribute to the increasing numbers of LGBTQ youth in homelessness services. This thesis contributes to the limited ethnographic studies available regarding youth homelessness in anthropology. It also aims to offer insights to broad literatures in social, political, economic and applied anthropology, the anthropology of youth, the anthropology of care, kinship studies, the anthropology of Britain and the anthropology of home and homelessness. Additionally, it has the potential to be of interdisciplinary interest, as it draws on insights from the disciplines of sociology, human geography as well as literature from queer and gender studies. Finally, this research will inform homelessness and housing policies and facilitate a better understanding of the under-researched topic of LGBTQ youth homelessness. The outcomes of my research suggest that policy makers in voluntary and government agencies need to employ a culturally sensitive approach to housing policy for youth and young individuals who identify as LGBTQ and those that are homeless.

This thesis engages with debates around cultural work and culture-led regeneration by exploring the working conditions encountered and experienced by visual artists who have located in Margate and Folkestone, two towns in Kent (South East England) which have pursued culture-led regeneration. It draws on, and contributes, to critical debates on cultural labour and the conditions of cultural work as well as long-standing debates around culture and creativity as drivers of urban regeneration. It establishes the ways in which artists’ labour is integral to culture-led urban policies, and further critically explores the quality of such work, looking at the conditions under which it proceeds, and the values and meanings individual workers ascribe to it. The thesis demonstrates that culture-led urban strategies represent a locus of economic exploitation for the artists implicated in them. This accords with other studies that provide evidence of artistic, and other forms of cultural, labour as wholly beset by economic and social structures that instrumentalise cultural value, and undermine any intrinsic value or meaning to cultural labour. However, this thesis also provides a ‘defence’ of artists’ work. While noting the continuing inequalities, marginalisation and exclusionary effects of neoliberal working conditions and practices, this thesis demonstrates that creative cultural work is not fully colonised by the market, and that within the cultural industries there remains the possibility of ‘good work’. This thesis concludes that although economic exploitation and insecurity are common, workers are able to draw upon pre-existing cultural discourses that sometimes allow them to produce value and meaning in their work in ways that evade capitalist logics.

This research explores the understudied phenomenon of performance and image enhancing drug (PIED) markets by examining the structure and formation of the market for PIEDs in the Netherlands and Belgium. Furthermore, this study aims to understand and analyse the actors that operate in the PIED dealing environment. In particular bodybuilding is adopted as a case study. Finally, this thesis examines how the PIED control system and its application influence these respective markets. Chapter one introduces the global PIED problem, the policy options currently available to deal with it, and its connection to anti-doping and sport. Chapter two begins by reviewing the literature on PIED use and its supply, and reflects on the anti-doping and PIED policies that seek to regulate this market. In chapter three the theoretical contours of this dissertation are developed. Chapter four describes the research methods which form the empirical bases of the findings chapters. Chapter five focuses on the general characteristics of PIED suppliers, and the ways in which the actions of PIED dealers are influenced by the market cultures in which they operate. Chapter six examines the importance of socio-cultural factors in the formation and development of PIED dealing networks within bodybuilding subcultures. Chapter seven analyses and describes the characteristics of the Belgian and Dutch PIED markets, and unravels the complex relationship between the two. Chapter eight explores the illegal production of steroids in the Netherlands and the flourishing Internet trade in Belgium. Chapter nine assesses the harms related to the production and distribution of PIEDs, and accounts for the effects that Belgian and Dutch PIED policies may have on this illicit market. Finally, in chapter ten, the main findings of this dissertation are summarized, future research endeavours are considered and policy implications are drawn from the analysis. This thesis illustrates that social systems of rules and values, and in particular the embeddedness of culture, are important factors in our efforts to comprehend illicit PIED markets. Specifically, ‘the beliefs, norms, ‘tools’, rules and behaviours appropriate to a cultural setting are key factors for understanding the structure of PIED markets and greater attention must be given to the role played by socio-cultural factors in influencing the market behaviour of criminal groups and individuals. Nevertheless, this thesis also demonstrates that it is imperative to examine the production, distribution and use of PIEDs, as embedded within a diverse combination of social, economic and cultural processes. Indeed, the structure and formation of illicit PIED markets are shaped by a variety of factors including the types of PIEDs dealt within them, the characteristics of the users, the social structures which sustain them, the cultural and economic context in which the markets exist, and market forces (e.g. technical innovations, drug policies).