Chapter 1 examines the health benefits of the Winter Fuel Payment (WFP), an unconditional but labelled cash transfer given to elderly people above the female state pension age with the stated intent of help to deal with heating costs. We exploit the eligibility age cut-off to estimate the causal effect of the WFP on self- reports of chest infection, measured hypertension and biomarkers of infection and inflammation, such as C-reactive protein and fibrinogen. We find a robust reduction in the incidence of high levels of serum fibrinogen and some evidence of reductions in other disease markers that point to health benefits. In Chapter 2, we estimate the incidence of the housing subsidy on subsidised and unsubsidised tenants. Using a reform of the housing subsidies in the UK, we inves- tigate how the exogenous cut in the subsidy affected rents. We find that rents were not significantly reduced by the subsidy cut and the incidence mostly fell on tenants. These findings suggest that the rental market was not originally segmented between subsidised and unsubsidised tenants and the fall in the demand of subsidised tenants was offset by the recent expansion of the private rental market. In Chapter 3, we revisit and offer a reassessment of the literature on the impact of UK National Minimum Wage on employment. We highlight that this literature has em- ployed difference-in-difference designs, which have significant challenges in conducting appropriate inference and very low power when inference is conducted appropriately. In addition, the literature has focused on the binary outcome of statistical rejection of the null hypothesis, without attention to the range of employment effects. In our reanalysis of the data, we find that the data are consistent with both large nega- tive and small positive impacts of the UK National Minimum Wage on employment offering little guidance to policy makers.

This thesis explores some of the complexities of young people’s sexual subjectivities by foregrounding their experiences during a range of bodily practices. While the majority of research in the field of youth sexuality has focused on negative outcomes, in my research I emphasise pleasure. I worked with a socio-economically and culturally diverse sample of 36 young women and men aged 16 to 18 from south Wales (U.K.). Together we explored their embodied experiences, and a range of different methods of researching these experiences. Rather than asking participants about specific sexual practices, I focused on what felt good (and bad) in and on their bodies in a wide variety of contexts. I used group and individual interviews, and object- and arts-based methods, to map what felt sexual and/or pleasurable to them. I explored the ways in which their sexual subjectivities emerged not only during activities normatively defined as ‘sex’, but also in their engagements with objects, technology, sports, dance, and when their bodies were still. Taking inspiration from feminist appropriations of the Deleuzo-Guattarian concepts of ‘becoming’, ‘assemblage’, ‘affect’, ‘territorialisation’, and ‘deterritorialisation’, I offer intricate mappings of the ways in which affective flows in specific encounters can limit or expand young people’s (sexual) capacities. My data highlights how gendered violence, ‘trophy sex’, objectification and disembodiment remain significant forces in many young people’s sexual lives, especially those of young women. However, my thesis also maps ruptures and ‘alternative figurations’ of youth sexualities (Braidotti 1994; see Renold and Ringrose 2008). I illustrate how young sexual subjectivities can move beyond normative notions of (hetero)sexuality, and how young people sometimes experience sexuality and pleasure in unexpected ways and places. My thesis points to the malleability and multiplicity of youth sexual subjectivities, and towards possibilities for re-imagined sexualities that exceed gendered bodies and phallocentric desire.

The study explores the way further and higher education lecturers, who identify as Cornish, view their cultural knowledge and identity and how this informs their pedagogic practice. The study took place in the context of the newly established Combined Universities in Cornwall, following the allocation of European Union funding. Bernstein’s sociology of pedagogy (1990, 2000), specifically the pedagogic device and pedagogic identity provided an analytical framework to explore knowledge production, recontextualisation and reproduction and the extent to which lecturers contributed to the production of a localised pedagogic identity. Holland and Lave’s (2001) concept of “history-in-person” enabled further consideration of individuals’ relationships to Cornish culture and identity. Three research questions were identified: how do historical and contemporaneous contexts impact on lecturers’ practice? In which educational contexts does identity become salient? And, what role do lecturers play in the creation of a localised pedagogic identity? In-depth semi-structured interviews, with 14 lecturers based in 1 HEI and 2 FEIs, were undertaken during 2010 and 2011. The subsequent thematic analysis helped identify key aspects of Cornish identity, such as the importance of relationship to geographical place, and a range of values including that of hard work. Key practice issues identified included a desire to create and transmit localised identities. The findings established that lecturers consider their Cornish culture to be distinct, yet marginalised by non-Cornish peers, institutions and wider society. Opportunities for lecturers to relay Cornish culture to the next generation were shown to be context dependent on the type of employing institutions, position in the institutional hierarchy and the types of programme taught. However, where lecturers were able to implement their ambitions localised pedagogic identities became available to students. This study furthers understanding of how minority lecturers’ discursively- informed pedagogic practices co-exist with - and seek to challenge - hegemonic discourses.

The future is a tricky issue for the sciences because it has not happened yet and therefore is not 'fact' (see Adam and Groves 2007) to be studied. Nonetheless the future in and by its intangible nature acts upon us and is brought into the present, shaping both interactions and actions taken in the now. At the same time, futures are continually in the making and already made as actions past shape future lives to come. How futures are made then, how people’s lives to come are shaped, is both a social and political issue which requires attention. This thesis focusses on the lives of one particular group of people - those who have severe brain injuries. It explores how their futures are being shaped and negotiated, made and constrained by and through rehabilitation in a context of every day care delivery within independent neurological rehabilitative settings. This research draws on in-depth ethnographic data collected over five months at two neurological rehabilitation settings in England which includes interviews and broad and close observations of day-to-day happenings in the lives of around 60 brain injured residents, families and health care staff. The data was subject to a situational analysis (Clarke 2011), which is underpinned by grounded theory and discourse analysis, to foreground the collective multiplicity of actors in context. The findings highlight how patients’ futures are imagined depends upon their ability (or not) to demonstrate rehabilitative progress and are imagined in line with their fit to a ‘rehabilitative imaginary’. The dominance of this imaginary simultaneously negates the futures of those unable to fulfil it but enables the ‘good care’ of all in the present. Those that are considered marginal to care - ‘hotel service staff’ (cleaners, cooks, maintenance and administrative staff) are shown to be central to the making of futures of brain injured residents and how differences in the way in which patients’ futures are imagined by patients, their families and HCPs are shown to contribute to tensions between them. It contributes to the sociological literature by extending temporal analysis to this under-researched condition (brain injury), process (rehabilitation) and place(s) (independent neurological rehabilitation settings in the independent sector) and by illuminating how futures of brain injured residents are imagined and shaped by brain injured residents themselves, by families and HCPs working with them.

We live in a world now dominated by complex and fast moving sociotechnical systems. This work considers the difficulties presented in even discussing such systems in an intelligible manner, especially given that many escape the immediate capabilities of human cognition to properly apprehend. Numerous means have in recent history been used to ‘fix’ or ‘stabilise’ the meanings and capabilities of such systems through one form of ‘Black Box’ or other. This work argues that our current conceptual resources are not appropriate to the task and explores ways in which both academics and practitioners can effectively and usefully apprehend such fast moving sociotechnical systems. It draws in particular on the work of Bruno Latour and Paul Thagard, combining their notions of ‘Circulating Reference’ and ‘Computational Coherence’ respectively, to propose more dynamic approaches and methodologies situated in kind of Computationalism that can be adapted to enable complex computing and digital networked events and the dynamic sociotechnical networks that underpin them to be talked about, and thereby known in ways that both express and encompass their dynamism and complexity and without inappropriately and prematurely placing them into ‘Black Boxes’.

This study seeks to address a number of important questions with regard to children in public care, commonly referred to in the UK as ‘looked-after’ children. Firstly, the study aims to identify whether there are child or placement characteristics that explain the observable variations in rates of children ‘looked-after’ between local authority areas. Secondly, it seeks to investigate the impact of poverty and social inequality on the likelihood of children becoming ‘looked-after’. Using a social inequalities lens the study seeks to identify whether there is a ‘social gradient’ in the rates at which children enter public care. Finally, the research aims to identify factors that predict a child who has experienced a period of being ‘looked-after’ re-entering care. Using six years of administrative data on children ‘looked after’ in Wales the study was undertaken using quantitative analyses of secondary data relating to approximately 15,000 ‘looked-after’ children. The research was undertaken using descriptive statistics, linear regression and binary logistic regression. The study identifies a relationship between neighbourhood level deprivation and the likelihood of children becoming ‘looked-after’. There is clear evidence of a ‘social gradient’ in the numbers of children entering care, with a corresponding increase in rates of children ‘looked-after’ for each step increase in neighbourhood level deprivation. Whilst both age and predominant category of need of children entering care are statistically correlated to a local authority’s overall rate of children ‘looked-after’, there are a number of differences not related to overall rates, which suggest differences in local social work practice. Logistic regression analysis results show that the length of a child’s initial period in care (stays of < 90 days) and their age group (11-15 years) were associated with an increased likelihood of returning to care. The implications for child welfare policy and practice are considered.

Southeast Asia is the rising star of the global market, however, contrary to its impressive economic achievements, many countries in the region have suffered diverse social problems because of economic growth. Given that a key mechanism to hold businesses accountable is their disclosure practices, this study is looking to expand the understanding of the influences of institutional environment and corporate governance on Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSRD) in six Southeast Asian countries: Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam. A multi-theoretical framework, including institutional theory, agency theory, stakeholder theory and legitimacy theory, was applied. For the purpose of this study, 2013 annual reports of 30 largest companies in the stock exchanges of the six countries were collected. The final sample consists of 171 companies. Firstly, empirical findings of CSRD levels across the countries showed that Thailand has the highest level of disclosure, followed by Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and finally Vietnam. There were significant differences between the extent of CSRD of the two countries with highest disclosure (Thailand and Indonesia) and the lowest disclosure group (Philippines and Vietnam). The findings are interesting in a sense that the levels of CSRD do not reflect the stages of economic development, and therefore, the differences in CSRD levels could be attributable to the impact of other institutional factors. Secondly, in relation to internal determinants and based on the existing literature and the context of Southeast Asia, six corporate governance practices were identified to examine the impact of corporate governance on CSRD. The results of OLS regression supported the negative impact of block ownership and the positive impact of board size as well as the presence of CSR committee on CSRD. Contrary to the theoretical and empirical expectations, board gender diversity was found to have significantly negative relationship with CSRD, and board independence had no impact on CSRD. These differences could be explained by the context of the study where the presentation of women on board is very low and independent directors might not be wholly independent. Thirdly, in order to examine the impact of the institutional environment on CSRD in a comprehensive way, institutional theory, the Scott’s institutional framework (1995) and existing literature are used to identify relevant institutional factors that potentially influence CSRD. The effect of six institutional factors representing the three pillars, regulative (legal origin and mandatory disclosure), cultural-cognitive (uncertainty avoidance and masculinity cultural dimensions), and normative (the adoption of GRI standard and membership of CSR-related associations), were evaluated in this study. The empirical results indicate that mandatory disclosure, uncertainty avoidance dimension and the adoption of GRI standard have positive impact on CSRD, while the masculinity dimension has negative relationship with CSRD. The findings imply that institutional environment influences CSRD through all the three pillars with some institutional factors have greater impact than others. The study, therefore, has contributed empirically to the existing literature by providing deeper insights into CSRD levels in Southeast Asia, identifying the effectiveness of corporate governance practices in emerging economies and the Asian context, particularly in relation to CSRD, including further examination of the role of diverse external determinants on CSRD. Theoretically, the study is one of a few that have attempted to quantify institutional environment into measurable institutional factors. These factors, hence, could be re-used in future research to advance understanding on the role of institutional environment in shaping a country’s CSRD practice.

In an era where global climate change, ecological degradation and the depletion of natural resources have become increasingly prevalent, the need to identify ways in which we can pursue more sustainable ways of living and conserve an ecological balance has become of great importance in society. The pernicious effects that society’s (global) food production and consumption practices have on the environment is one prominent area of concern. Much of the existing literature that has explored environmentally responsible consumption has been preoccupied with developing an understanding of the environmentally responsible consumer, the social, symbolic and political significance of environmentally responsible consumption and the potentiality of alternative food systems to alleviate the environmental consequences of our globalised food system and other issues concerned with sustainability on a broader level. Conversely, very few studies have drawn attention to everyday practices and the ways in which consumers engage with environmental issues on an everyday, practical level. This is crucial to gaining an insight into the ways in which we can envisage change and naturalise more environmentally responsible ways of living into routine, everyday consumption practices. To remedy this gap, this thesis explores the practice of allotmenteering from a practicetheoretical perspective and attempts to advance our understanding of the ways in which consumers engage with environmental issues on a day-to-day basis. Based upon an ethnographic approach, this study develops a rich, in-depth understanding of embodied, (mainly) skilled practitioners, processes of ‘doing’ allotmenteering and other practices embedded in the practice of allotmenteering. This study contributes to the field of environmentally responsible consumption by demonstrating how allotmenteers engage in environmentally responsible consumption patterns unintentionally. More specifically, it shows how these consumption patterns transpire through allotmenteers’ close intimate engagement with nature and through the ways in which they personally invest themselves; their time, energy and effort into processes of nurturing and domesticating nature. Thirdly, it shows how the practice of allotmenteering has the potential to trigger more unsustainable consumption patterns. These findings have implications for the ways in which we understand and make sense of environmentally responsible consumption.

This thesis investigates everyday encounters between benefit recipients and street-level welfare agencies in an era of behavioural conditionality, marketised ‘activation’, and neoliberal paternalism. Central to this thesis is a concern with the relational dynamics that policies of ‘behavioural conditionality’ and ‘mandatory activation’ produce, explored through reflexive analysis of the researcher’s own experiences as a street-level activation worker, and thirty in-depth interviews with former colleagues, other street-level staff, and benefit recipients. Informed by relational and psychosocial theorisations of both the subject and street-level welfare organisations, the thesis looks at the interactions between symbolic/ideological representation, individual agency, and street-level organisation. Arguing that attention to the dynamic, libidinal investments of street-level employees casts familiar street-level practices in a new light, the thesis draws attention to a dynamic of illusio-disillusionment (Bourdieu, 2000) among street-level staff, re-rendering familiar practices of ‘creaming and parking’ in terms of punishment and protection. Similarly, it is argued that specific instances of support, indifference, and/or sanction do not exist as discrete experiences in the life of claimants, but as ongoing possibilities, producing a situation of ever-present surveillance and threat. In this way, conditional activation services come to resemble a protection racket, in which both the threat and means of defence are produced simultaneously. These dynamic materialisations of behavioural conditionality are situated with respect to the ideology of neoliberal paternalism, which at street-level takes the form of magical voluntarism, and the enforcement of an anti-sociological imaginary which, it is argued, results in the denial and effective privatisation of the troubles, difficulties, and needs that bring people to welfare services in the first place.

After the Second World War, the Estonian community grew considerably in the UK. Great Britain became the first and largest state in Western Europe to welcome war refugees stranded in Germany, out of whom a small number of so-called European Voluntary Workers of Estonian origin also ended up in Scotland. The second wave of migration from Estonia started shortly after Estonia became independent, and grew larger after Estonia’s EU-accession in 2004. While the first group were practically cut off from their Estonian roots during the Soviet occupation, the second group have been able to maintain close ties with their homeland. In the academic literature on migration, diaspora and transnationalism have often been considered as direct opposites – the first concept is usually applied on the pre-Internet time exile communities, while the second one is used most often while talking about the situation in time of globalisation. In Scotland, however, the experience of an Estonian diaspora in its classical meaning, due to the scattered location and small number of Estonians living here, is highly contested. This study draws on wider research on these two communities, using mainly qualitative interviews with 54 recipients. These two communities from two different eras vary in many ways, as one would expect. However, their experiences on a micro-level are often surprisingly similar – at the individual level, the experience of moving abroad and settling in, as well as ties and networks between compatriots do not really differ. I will discuss the possibilities of using a theoretical toolkit of transnationalism for looking at both migration waves from Estonia, therefore. This research looks at social networks amongst Estonians in Scotland, their adaption, identity and different markers of identity, their home-making strategies and further plans (staying and leaving).