This thesis examines the experience of gay male student nurses during their university course, which leads to registration as a nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. Using in-depth qualitative interviews I focus on the student’s choice of nursing as a career and their performance of sexuality within the differing spaces of their clinical placements and the university. This thesis explores how these gay student nurses negotiate their gender, masculinity and gay sexuality within the professional boundaries of nursing. Furthermore, it identifies how these students negotiate issues of caring and the formation of therapeutic relationships with their patients, as men and gay men. The theoretical framing of the thesis draws upon Goffman's theories of presentation and performance of the self and Rubin’s 'charmed circle'. Alongside analysis of interview material, I explore the space of the hospital from a personal perspective and interrogate its gendered and desexualized organization through the lens of human geography. Moving between these two analytical frameworks, I examine and draw together the experiences of these students and examine their negotiation of the nursing role as gay men. I argue that the experience of these students and the negotiation of their sexuality as student nurses is fraught and precarious due to the complexities and boundaries of professional nursing roles in contemporary healthcare. Within the conclusion I address the implications of my research for gay nurses, patients, educators and for those who recruit nursing students.

This thesis critiques the consultant-client relationship in Chinese SMEs’ lean improvement projects. SMEs, which are crucial to China’s economy, encounter many challenges during their development. Management practices, such as lean, have been developed to improve organisational performance. In their application to SMEs, resource constraints mean that business assistance from external agencies, such as management consultants, is required. Drawing on multiple theoretical lenses, including organisational learning, institutional theory and contingency theory, a research framework is established. This framework is employed to identify three research themes: organisations’ abandonment of existing practices; organisations’ learning of lean practices; and the consultant - SME client relationship during lean improvement projects. As well as the established consultants’ role, “consultants as external advisors”, a new role, “consultants in residence”, is identified. These two roles are studied through the three research themes. This thesis employs a multiple-case study approach. Consultancy-involved lean projects undertaken in five Chinese SMEs are investigated using data collection methods of semi-structured interviews, direct observation and documentation. Both within- and cross-case analyses are applied. The main contributions of this thesis are fourfold. First, it sets out the changing nature of the consultant - SME client relationship throughout the projects by comparing and contrasting the consultants’ and clients’ perspectives. Second, a framework which defines the impact of SME structural characteristics on the consultant-client relationship is developed. Thirdly, two organisational learning frameworks in relation to the two consultants’ roles are established. Furthermore, the approach employed to deinstitutionalise organisations’ existing practices is compared between the two consultants’ roles. In the conclusion, the implications of this research for academia, practitioners and policy makers are discussed. A checklist which can aid SME managers in employing consultancy services is proposed and areas for future research are identified.

Those who misuse alcohol are a burden on health services, the economy and society generally. Compared to their peers, British adolescents report some of the highest levels of alcohol use in Europe. Community organisations can potentially play an important role in the delivery of policy interventions aimed at reducing alcohol misuse. However, little is known about British adolescents’ engagement with these organisations, and related activities, and therefore the role that participation in community activities plays in adolescent alcohol use. This thesis presents findings from an investigation into young people’s participation in organised activities (OAs), such as sports and special groups. While the research was primarily motivated by psychological theories of adolescent risk taking their application was in an ecological framework that identified broader social and environmental determinants of behaviour. An explanatory mixed method design was used. This consisted of two longitudinal studies using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), two cross-sectional studies of male young offenders and non-offenders and a qualitative study involving practitioners involved with the care and management of vulnerable young people. Findings revealed that individual-level characteristics associated with risk-taking behaviours predicted OA participation and that more vulnerable young people participated less in OAs. The analysis of qualitative data indicated that there were barriers to youngsters’ participation in OAs at multiple levels. Longitudinal analyses showed that those participating in sport OAs were more likely to report alcohol use compared to adolescents who did not participate in any OA and participants in non-sport OAs. Cross-sectional analyses showed that young offenders in team sports reported lower levels of hazardous alcohol use compared to young offenders who did not participate in any OA. Qualitative work explored how OA participation might impact vulnerable young people’s alcohol use and showed that the structures of organisations were important for how practitioners worked and the mechanisms identified. These findings highlighted OA participation inequalities among British adolescents and the importance of community contexts for future adolescent alcohol use interventions.

The centrepiece of this thesis is a comparative study of the stone rows of Dartmoor and northern Scotland, a rare, putatively Bronze Age megalithic typology. It is argued that these should be defined as cairn-and-rows monuments that ‘symbolise’ long mounds, and avenues in the case of Dartmoor — a circumstance that ‘explains’ the interregional similarities; other aspects of their semantic structures are also analysed using rigorous semiotic theory. An evolutionary approach is taken, drawing on biological theory to explain the active role of these monuments in social evolution, and to understand the processes at work in producing long term change in monument traditions. New theory is developed for analysing such archaeological sequences, and for understanding and explaining material culture in general. The concepts of adaptation and environment in archaeological theory to date are criticised, and environmental construction theory, and aspects of the Extended Phenotype theory, are forwarded as alternatives. The local sequences are contextualised by examining European megalithic origins, tracing the long mound ‘concept’ back to the Bandkeramik longhouses. The question of diffusion or convergence is tackled by examining the mechanisms at work during the transitions from longhouse to long mound and then to the cairn-and-rows; the explanations forwarded for the social function of the monuments is integrated with mechanisms for explaining their spread (or ‘diffusion’). It is argued that all of these related forms — longhouses, long mounds, and the cairn-and-rows — are implicated in a process of competitively asserting ancestral affinities, which explains the constraint on cultural variation, and thus the formation of remarkably stable monument traditions, and the convergence between Dartmoor and northern Scotland in the Early Bronze Age.

Between 1989 and 2007, Poland went through numerous reforms, the aim of which was to build a democratic country based on the rule of law. At the core of the multiple transition from the communist state to democracy was devolution which has been translated at different scales, national, regional and local. Of central importance were the local government reforms. Analyses of local outcomes of democratisation need to include the difficult to measure effects which manifest themselves through activities of local authorities and local communities. The aim of this thesis is to help fill the gap in understanding the processes and outcomes of the democratic transition by investigating the functioning of democracy at the local level, focusing on local self-government and its relations with civil society in the context of democratic consolidation in one of the major cities in Poland – Poznań and two of its community-based self-governing bodies called Estates which are accessory sub-local government units. The main question of this thesis is what is democratic about Poznań’s local government today. Here, the functioning of local representative democracy and citizens’ inclusion in local decision making are key. It is argued that in a ‘healthy’ democracy the actual practices of local authorities should facilitate an increasing involvement of local residents in decision-making processes. Consequently I focused on local democratic practices trying to evaluate local government’s responsiveness, effectiveness and accountability. In the light of the prevailing opinion that civil society in CEE has been weak, the effectiveness and efficiency of civil society in Poznań and its relations with the local authorities were explored. The study was based on a combination of qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (questionnaires) methods of research. The research identifies that the activities of the local government of Poznań are symptomatic of the authorities’ recognition of the need to be responsive, effective and accountable. Poznań’s authorities have partners in civil society. Among these partners are organisations with a low level of formality, i.e. a community, neighbourhood and a group of residents which organise themselves to achieve their objectives. The environment (law, regulations and attitudes of local authorities) in which they operate was noted to be important to their activities and much effort has been put into upgrading the quality and intensity of the authorities’ communication with local residents. The learning process has reached the stage at which the democratic system has begun to improve itself, a sign of a maturing democracy. The thesis addresses a gap in the literature on the processes underpinning democratic consolidation in Poland. Its findings suggest that as the reformers of Polish local government in the years immediately following the overthrow of communist rule believed, local democracy and local democratic practices are an important component of the wider (national) project of democratic consolidation.

The purpose of this thesis is to address the relative effectiveness and usefulness of intersectionality as an elastic concept which can span more than the theoretical arena. To do this, the prevailing social problem of violence against ethnicised women is examined in all its complexities. Intersectionality works on two strategic levels – firstly, the framework recognises that individuals are comprised of numerous identity markers and that these characteristics take on a multiplicative relationship, and secondly, that structural systems of power exist within society to reinforce hierarchical privileges and oppressions that are predicated on identity. This thesis presents intersectionality as a possible way of framing the various interactions of social divisions, and the regimes of inequality which cut-across them, in the context of violence against ethnicised women. This violence is analysed through theoretical, policy and practical responses with particular attention being paid to how the three spheres deal with difference on a variety of analytical levels. A content analysis of New Labour government policy adopts intersectionality as a lens with which to ascertain how valuable this frame is as a methodological tool. Ten interviews with service providers from the violence against women field are conducted in order to gain experiential insight into how identity is seen to shape experience and appropriate responses. This thesis demonstrates that competing perceptions of identity, which are contextually and historically contingent, create a series of specific problems for ethnicised women that are frequently rooted in discourses of marginality, difference and homogeny. Intersectionality is a useful way of creating increased fluidity between theory, policy and practice, and of heightening an understanding of the heterogeneity of women’s experiences. It has much to offer the VAW field in the UK.

Child trafficking is a term used to define situations where children are forced, coerced or tricked to migrate for the purpose of their future exploitation. The issue of child trafficking is a well established UK policy concern initially emerging in the seventeenth century. The issue re-appeared in the late nineteenth century influenced by the social purity movement. This generated an infamous media exposé which led to parliamentary debates and legislative changes. Child trafficking resurfaced as a UK policy concern periodically in the twentieth century as children were once again forced to migrate. At the start of the twenty-first century child trafficking is back on the UK national policy agenda following pressure exerted by international anti-trafficking networks and Non Government Organisations. This study examines the social construction of risk in current and historical child trafficking UK policy discourses. Interviews with key informants in the ports safeguarding sector are discussed, together with an analysis of policy documents and primary historical sources. The construction of risk in these child trafficking discourses appear in a specific format which is explained by drawing on the conceptual lens of melodramatic tactics. This analysis reveals how narratives of child trafficking tend to have a stereotypical tragic child victim, who is forcibly separated from their family, and in need of protection from dangerous criminals who aim to deceive and exploit them. The employment of these melodramatic tactics is a central feature of current UK child trafficking policy discourses. Research studies which situate migrant children as competent social actors illuminate accounts of triumph, and these contrast with the outrage-driven protest drama which has current and enduring appeal in UK child trafficking policy discourses. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of current UK child trafficking policy and recommendations about future research with children on the move are also proposed.

In the winter of 2009, Barbie celebrated her 50th birthday. The occasion was marked with all the pageantry befitting a debutante, starlet, or modern-day princess. Lavish parties were hosted in her honour, and fashion models impersonated the doll on the catwalk. Luxury brands created limited edition Barbie products—from cosmetics to cars—to commemorate the milestone. And, at the height of the revelry, the plastic doll even underwent ‘plastic surgery’ in order to squeeze into a couture pair of birthday stilettos. Taking this distinctive cultural moment as its starting point, this thesis examines how the Barbie doll’s complex and indefatigable cultural presence is understood in Western popular culture. A range of media and industries engage with representations of the doll: advertising, consumer, and celebrity cultures; the fashion, beauty, and cosmetic surgery industries; music; reality television; social networking; and pornography. This thesis interrogates how these media and industries, and the discursive practices therein, reproduce images and narratives of Barbie as a uniform and idealised representation of white, affluent femininity in the West. However, as her birthday celebrations suggest, Barbie is also written as a ‘real’ girl. This thesis also interrogates this narrative of ‘realness’ as it helps to explain why the doll has remained relevant for over 50 years, while complicating readings of her position as a uniform cultural object. Moreover, while Barbie is being portrayed as a ‘real’ girl, popular culture narratives also present ‘becoming Barbie’ as an achievable goal for young women and girls. Motivating this research throughout is the question of how such a referential relationship reinforces and destabilises constructions of the feminine subject in our postmodern and posthuman times.

‘Mothers and daughters on the margins: gender, generation and education’ is a thesis that explores the inter-generational marginalisation of working-class mothers and their daughters both in terms of education, employment and family relationships. In this thesis class is explored through the visual data and interview accounts of nine mother and daughter dyads all residing in the same disadvantaged locality in urban South Wales. The thesis employs sociological and psychological lenses to examine social reproduction, and the ways in which gender, place and class act as barriers to educational progression for the participants, and the psychological, physical and practical costs of social mobility. The thesis argues that women and girls on the margins of contemporary Wales continue to struggle to be agents of their own destiny, against a tide of spatial, structural, social, cultural, economic, psychological and patriarchal processes.

This thesis investigates the impact of attempts to stimulate private sector involvement and investment in the urban regeneration process, looking at the case of urban regeneration institutions operating, and policies implemented, in disadvantaged areas of the city of Glasgow. Successive governments; analyses of the urban problem and the perceived role of the private sector in these are critically analysed and an alternative advanced. The history of attempts to stimulate private sector participation in the regeneration process in the USA and UK is discussed to introduce the delivery structures and policies pursued in Glasgow in the post war period. A review of the economic history of the city and the characteristics of its disadvantaged areas highlight the weakness of the city economy and the scale of the regeneration problem. The key original fieldwork elements of the thesis investigate the findings of a survey of attitudes in the private sector towards the regeneration process, the impacts of private sector participation in organisational structures and attempts to stimulate investment through the labour and property market. Further, a survey of key players in the business community assesses private sector attitudes to the regeneration process. The research argues that the rationales for stimulating participation advanced by proponents are flawed. Those concerned with organisational aspects confuse concerns over ownership with those of effective management. In investment terms there are major weaknesses in the attempt to adapt market failure policies to fundamentally redistributive issues. Analysis of policy history shows that there has been convergence towards a holistic approach attempting to address both growth and redistributive issues and that the City of Glasgow is a good example of this. Empirical evidence shows that business opinion is relatively well informed about the issues to be addressed but not about the agencies charged with delivering policy. Although the importance of the issues is recognised, attitudes in the private sector are largely negative on the potential for additional intervention from this source to assist in their resolution. The impacts of participation on delivery structures are limited because a public sector culture and funding structure dominates, allowing private sector representatives to input only at the margins.