This thesis discusses the link between men’s HIV treatment seeking behaviour and their masculinity. It is based generally on ethnographic research conducted in Busia district, rural eastern Uganda, and specifically on 26 interviews conducted between 2009 and 2010 with different categories of men: treated for HIV, tested but dropped out of treatment, not tested but suspect HIV infection, and those with other health problems unrelated to HIV. The study explored how masculinity is constructed and discussed among the men from the Iteso ethnic group, how those notions of masculinity influence men’s uptake of HIV treatment, and how HIV diagnosis and/or its treatment, in turn, affects men’s perception of their masculinity. Thematic framework analysis identified recurrent themes and variations across the data. The thesis argues that there are, essentially, two forms of masculinity in rural Uganda, one based on reputation, the other on respectability, and that these emerge in different contexts, and have different effects on men’s behaviours regarding HIV testing and treatment. Respectable masculinities are endorsed largely by the wider society, while reputational masculinities are endorsed predominantly by the men themselves, although some ideals are shared by both. Theoretically, this categorisation is consistent with the distinction between the value systems of respectability and reputation as described by PJ Wilson (1969). Men’s dividuality (Helle-Valle 2004), allowed them to, unproblematically, adopt the different and sometimes contradictory, forms of masculinity, in different social circumstances and phases of life. Individual men can engage in a variety of HIV treatment seeking behaviours that typically correspond with different masculine ideologies and dividualities; some discouraging treatment seeking for HIV, others encouraging it. On the one hand, acknowledging illness is incompatible with men’s notion of strength. Being diagnosed with HIV threatens respectability and ability to work and earn an income, hence treatment is delayed, while couple testing threatens men’s freedom to engage in extramarital sex. On the other hand, HIV treatment may be undertaken and adhered to, in order to regain and maintain health, so as to fulfill family and societal expectations, notably that of provider and being a role model. Through the core themes of ‘dented’ and ‘resuscitated’ masculinities, this study suggests that HIV diagnosis negatively affected masculinity while treatment led to more positive ways to express masculinity.

A thesis concerning the ontology underlying the formation of structural-dialectical systems based on the implications of the phenomenon of Emergence is presented. Emergence refers to the unexpected appearance of discontinuities which segment on-going traditions. The Western philosophical tradition is used as an example focusing on motifs introduced in the Phaedo, the transition from Hume to Kant, and contemporary ontology. Emergence (as structurally coded artificial novelty) is posited to be the opposite of the phenomenon of Nihilism (erratic change projected by the structural system rendering the formal system visible), and both are functions of the ideational process. The ontological basis of Emergence is sought by exploring the articulation of the form of the ideational process, through which structural theoretical systems are produced, called the 'ideational template'. It has three parts: 1) SHELL—The expanding wave of logical connections by means of triadic formalisms seen on the Nihilistic background; 2) CORE-—The unfolding structural dialectical underpinning to the formal system in which artificial emergences appear; 3) CENTRE OF THE CORE—Fragmentation of the concept of 'Being' which provides the ontological foundation for the Formal/Structural system. The ideational template is destructured in order to show the feasibility of an alternative metaphysical model based on disconnecting opposite qualities instead of focusing on form and structure as the ideational process does. This brings attention to the principle of 'No Secondary Causation' as a means of tracing back artificial emergence within structural systems to a genuine emergence of all entities and qualitative opposites to a single source (called by Plato 'the Good') indicated by the methodology of logical disconnection rather than syllogistic connection. The alternative to logical ideational connection is called the 'logic of disconnection'. The metaphysical basis of a qualitative science as distinct from quantitative Western science is posited.

As the sub-title suggests, and, as I start to write, this might not turn out to be an ordinary thesis. And who ever said that contingent agency was the sole preserve of the "posties". This introduction is intended to be a digressive statement of annoyance/anger, condensation of the research's core theoretical themes, continuation of a theoretical project started in the '70s, an indication of areas that require further work, and thus, as that solidary prosaism would have it, 'work-in-progress'.

In 1990, a research project called "Rural Surplus Labour and its Employment Exploration" was set up in China, undertaken by the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of agriculture and the Development Centre of the State Council. From February to July 1992, I visited Shuangmiao Village in Qianshan County, Anhui Province, Xlanfeng Village and Kangle Village in Dingxi County, Gansu Province, Tianliao Village and Xiting Village in Changnan County, Zhejiang Province and, Longgang Zhen in Wenzhou Region, Zhejiang Province, where I conducted a questionnaire survey among 300 households. The model built up in this thesis is a multi-disciplinary model based on the author's documentary research in the disciplines of sociology/anthropology and development economics. My particular focus and my critique concerns two sociological theories illustrated by Revanstein and Lee and two economic models inferred by Lewis and Todaro, which have been widely quoted in the literature of migration. There are altogether six chapters. The first chapter is a review of the literature of internal migration both in developed and developing countries, and a brief introduction to and critique of the four migration models. The main task of the second chapter is to hypothesise a set of social/anthropological and economic variables and their relationships to the internal migration decision, and to build up a multi-disciplinary internal migration model. In the third and fourth chapters, a detailed description of the field study in the five villages, one town and one city is given and a qualitative analysis follows. The fifth chapter is the quantitative analysis, testing the model to see whether or not there is correlation between the hypothesised independent variables and the making of the internal migration decision. Finally, a conclusion and some proposals for further research are given in the sixth chapter.

This thesis has eight chapters, each organised according to interwoven themes that permit easy linkages between the salient questions of the study. The thesis utilises a multi-disciplinary approach in the analysis of deprivation occasioned by scarcity. The concept of masculinity is also crucial for understanding the issues related to violence escalation, conflict management and peace in Mbale, Uganda. Employing qualitative methodologies, the study examines the way that violence in Mbale has been understood by the survivors, perpetrators, witnesses and state officials. The study analyses the experiences of those involved in these violent conflict situations and seeks to understand the way in which scarce resources and violent masculinity among the Bagisu people impact upon the dynamics of conflict, particularly in terms of violence escalation, conflict management and peace development in the area. The study also seeks to understand why the various processes and structures of government, civil society and traditional authority failed to prevent widespread violence. Subsequently, I examine the questions of effective conflict management, both as a deterrent to violence and as a means of maintaining the peace necessary for sustainable development. I examine the efficacy of alternative policies that might promote a wider, more inclusive and more gender sensitive strategy towards conflict management that might fully tap into the existing and powerful resources within the socio-economic and political fabric for promoting sustainable peace and development. Whilst many commentators would posit witchcraft as a major factor behind the violence, others would stress the importance of socio-economic deprivation, scarcity and violent masculinity as factors contributing to the dynamics of the Mbale violence and its management. The thesis concurs with the latter assessment, exposing violent masculinity and scarcity as powerful influences for the dynamics and management of conflict and violence in Mbale. Violent masculinity inculcates a culture of violent conflict, whilst economic scarcity and deprivation acted as social catalysts for its explosive manifestation. Whilst the violent struggle witnessed in Mbale officially came to an end in 1996, the road to peace was still long and far from easy, having major repercussions, not only for the socio-economic and political developments of the area, but also for the East African region as a whole. A decade on and there have been no significant initiatives to secure 'peace', neither from community leaders nor from responsible government departments, which thereby poses serious questions concerning the sustainability of peace and development, given their inextricable fate. Peace is a vital component to a country's further development: sustainable development requires a peaceful environment. Although this study recognises the importance of formal structures for peace keeping and its maintenance, it also recognises that where such institutionalised structures are not fully developed, as in the case of Mbale, then alternative initiatives tapping into existing grass-root traditions must be employed as supplemental capacities for bringing about and maintaining lasting peace and sustainable development.

Organisational members need clearer comprehension about value/s dynamic nature in a constantly changing networked ecosystem of resource integration and mutual service provision. This is so organisational pursuit of competitive advantage for business success is achievable through better stakeholder value propositions which customers especially value in-use. Empirical studies indicate customer perceptions of value are reasonably well documented, however the same cannot be said of knowledge about changes in customer perceived value where the paucity of research reflects its embryonic state. This exploratory longitudinal case study in a major blue-chip company setting is the first known research design employing an idiographic interactive approach of three interpretive qualitative methods mixed with descriptive quantitative elements. The UK aerospace industry is considered to be appropriate to study the phenomenon of customer perceived value change, because of its characteristics i.e. periods of cyclical change, innovation, new technologies and its long-term relationship marketing nature. Research findings highlight customer perceived value changes are determined idiosyncratically and phenomenologically by beneficiaries and manifested at the attribute level of service provision rather than at higher levels of consequences and values. Different macro-environmental and micro-environmental factors influence the organisational climate continuously albeit not as critical incidents having a direct impact on individual perception of value. Value constructs informed by organisational values and personal values did not change per se; however thematic recalibrations within each respondent/s values system hierarchy were detected. Exemplars responses reveal most increases or decreases in value change appear associated with changing positions and roles within the organisation for two individuals. Whereas the least change in value came from the remaining exemplar's supplier development role in providing stability and surety of supply. Key marketing implications are the surfacing and management of tacit customer perceived value change knowledge, facilitated through common language and leading to enhanced external and internal collaborative relationships.

This thesis investigated perceptions of HIV/AIDS at the Walter Sisulu University (WSU), situated in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The study focused on understanding opinions related to HIV/AIDS using data derived from interviews with twenty HIV/AIDS key role players from across the entire institution, and twenty students at the Institute for Advanced Tooling (IAT), a postgraduate section of the Mechanical Engineering Department in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology (FSET) in Chiselhurst, East London. A key concern of the study was to examine the way in which local cultural beliefs and practices may shape understandings in relation to HIV/AIDS and to help inform more sensitive prevention campaigns in the future. The study, methodologically utilising Denzin’s concept of interpretative interactionism,and Giddens’ structuration theory, found that there was no single ‘cultural belief’ regarding health or related issues, but that cultural beliefs were always expressed in personal and contextual ways. The investigation into nutrition, health and general well-being and perceived causes of HIV/AIDS revealed that research informants subscribed to cultural beliefs for different reasons in personal constructs, and the study concluded that cultural issues surrounding these factors would need to be socially debated in intervention efforts. Perceptions of gender, as the most significant factor, were highly contested, with differing beliefs expressed regarding female sexual agency. It was further stated by research informants that the ABC approach lacked contextual consideration of environmental factors. The thesis therefore argues that for effective preventative action, there is a necessity, firstly, for a health-enabling environment to be created that includes strategies for alleviating nutritional deficiencies in a culturally contextual fashion. Second, based on the data, it was established that in relation to respondents’ orientation towards cultural beliefs, social HIV/AIDS debate programmes should be introduced in conjunction with health officials, the community and traditional healers in a peer-oriented approach. It was thirdly established that this approach should include addressing contextual factors from a ‘lived experience’ perspective, and that social positioning by the WSU should occur towards certain social issues (for example, constructions of gender) identified within this study.

This thesis sets out to explain the limited representation of English players in Premiership football. As a nation, England appears to be producing an insufficient number of players who are believed capable of playing at the highest level of the game. Available data has suggested that less than 40% of footballers who started Premier League games in recent years are English. Why then are foreign players preferred to their English counterparts? One explanation to this question may be found in the historical development of the English game. As well as being a game, football is a form of cultural expression. From the earliest forms of ‘folk football’ played in the fourteenth century, a range of social forces have either independently or inter-dependently helped to promote a game largely based upon fitness and physicality. However, during the twentieth century, the football being played in other countries began to improve markedly; football began to shift from a traditional to a technical game. Following the formation of the Premier League in 1992, Premiership clubs began to recruit foreign players in increasing numbers, many of whom possessed the technical ability required to compete at the highest levels of the game. Much of English football, in contrast, has continued to promote a manly and physical game rather than a game based upon the development of technical skills. Unless a greater number of English players acquire a similar level of technical ability then the influx of foreign players is likely to continue.

The topic of organised crime in relation to mass media is rather marginal in academic studies and this research is one of the first attempts to fill the gap. This thesis is based on Russian media coverage and many interviews with leading Russian experts, entrepreneurs and journalists. It analyses the relationship between the mass media and organised crime in post-Communist Russia. It aims to identify the place of these social institutions in the complex reality of this transitional country, to grasp some important features of their relationship, and to provide a framework for a further analysis. This thesis emphasises that the Russian news media have been increasingly involved in politics. It examines the media's role in relation to Russian power elites through the prism of the "symbolic method". The symbolic method is defined as a means of exercising symbolic power that aims to impact the symbolic capital of parties involved. This research shows that organised crime reporting comprises significant part of the symbolic method and, as such, is an effective instrument of political confrontation. This makes the media attractive to organised crime groups, which are deeply embedded in Russian power networks, and results in the establishment of numerous ties between the mass media and the Mafia. This thesis consists of seven chapters. Chapter I introduces the main features of the Russian media; Chapter 2 identifies the main types of Russian organised crime. Chapter 3 analyses weakness of the news media in the face of numerous methods of pressure from the power elites. This may explain the presence of ties between the Russian mass media and organised crime, which is illustrated in detail in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 outlines numerous difficulties of organised crime reporting, and Chapter 6 offers an explanation of why these problems do not prevent the media from publishing investigative stories. The final chapter reviews the history of Russian investigative journalism and assessed its role as a watchdog of the public sphere.

This thesis investigates sociological understandings of language in texts deeply resonant for sociology today. It offers a comparative and analytical investigation of social-language projects written before the discipline was established. Sociologists have struggled to establish a field investigating arguably the most social arena of social life, namely, language as witnessed by insubstantial attempts to sociologically study language and unfulfilled promises in social theories of language or sociologies of communication, culture, media, etc. Chapter 1 critically reviews social scientific research approaches to language. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 examine carefully selected sites in European thought where language and social life interpenetrate too much to be disentangled, wherein there are ‘folk sociologies of language’. Chapter 2 looks at attempts to rectify a deep confusion pulling society apart and corroding language. Three social-language projects compose language: a gesture language (Bulwer), a philosophical language (Wilkins) and combination of both (Dalgarno). Chapter 3 looks at two critical dictionaries intended to fix language to help the realisation of the ideal society (Johnson’s Dictionary and Diderot’s Encyclopedié). Chapter 4 explores projects that capture historically changing nationhood: the OED and the work of the Grimm Brothers. These social-language projects are attempts to change something in the social, on a continuum of less to more radical interventions. These social-language projects are significant, but have been ignored by sociologists. As ‘language’ projects, they are assumed irrelevant in relation to power, knowledge, or nascent nationalism. As ‘social’ projects, they have been considered tangential to an increasingly narrow and technical linguistics. By mining this rich seam of sources, this work draws attention to elements central to sociology (about the nature and roles of collectives and individuals, about agency, structure, the subject, institutions) in light of key questions about language (its aspects, form, roles in relation to knowledge, law, politics). This is a first step towards analysing language events from a sociological perspective. The intended contribution of this research to current sociology is three-fold. Firstly, it outlines a distinctive approach by using sources from outside the discipline in order to get at problems at its core. Secondly, it shows how language is empirically current in ways that are central to the discipline (e.g. the ‘endangered languages movement’). Finally, it shows that without the distance gained by stepping outside we cannot see that the way we think about language and the social are mutually constitutive, indeed each shapes and conditions the other. In sum, language is much too sociologically important to be left to linguists.