How is the city seen from a distance? With regard to ‘world cities’ and their battle for recognisable city-images, this is an aesthetic, political and historiographical question. How does a particular representation of the city’s past become useful for economic globalisation? This thesis analyses the relationships between history, power and profit as played out on a city’s skylines. It is conceived as a politicisation of the aesthetics of skylines, which speaks to the increasing power of aesthetic arguments in developer-driven urbanisation processes. My focus is on professional debates attending the development of the City of London’s ‘formal skyline’ prior to the economic recession; debates between architects, historians and townscape consultants, which revolved around the visibility of the emerging high-rise cluster that is located adjacent to listed buildings and conservation areas. I show how the conservatism that is encapsulated in concerns with the visual protection of historic landmarks is being transformed into ‘progressive’ arguments for constructing iconic towers. This transformation results from professionals’ pre-occupation with a single static viewpoint as providing a ‘definitive’ and easily marketable image of London, their fetishisation of St Paul’s as a building that needs to be visually enhanced, and their insistence to produce a unified skyline that is rooted in a linear historical narrative of continuity and change. In my critique of the intrinsic marriage of historical-aesthetic concerns with the prosaic pressing interests of finance capital I draw on two different traditions: the British Townscape movement and the idiosyncratic admixture of Marxism, Messianism and Modernism in the writings of Walter Benjamin. I challenge the prevalent understanding of ‘the new London skyline’ as a representative, aesthetically pleasing, compositional whole and argue for an understanding of skylines as unfinished and unfinishable, adversarial processes that is based on four conceptualisations: a cinematic skyline, which involves the notion of Surrealist montage, grounded in radical disjunction, unresolved tensions and contradictions; a non-auratic skyline, breaking with the conception of skylines as ‘enframed paintings’, foregrounding disruptive elements and providing for shock and distraction rather than contemplation; a multidirectional skyline, which attests manifold and marginalised histories that run counter the conventional historicist ideal conception of historical progress; an allegorical skyline in which meanings are multiplied and mortified and the unity and purity of the symbolic and the power of the iconic are fractured and fragmented, subject to political construction in the present.

Equal Pay Audits are the latest tool in the campaign for gender equality at work. I use two pay audits, in a bank and an insurance company, to demonstrate how they can be used and abused, and in the process I explore the reasons for the massive gender pay gap of forty three per cent in the finance sector of the United Kingdom. The conduct of a pay audit allows an employer to claim conformity with government approved procedures, but I ask how reliable those procedures are, and how the process can be improved. The introduction of 'nev/ payment systems such as performance related pay has allowed employers to claim that pay and promotion are fair because they are determined by 'objective' criteria. The validity of such claims is tested, and other elements of the pay process that contribute to unequal pay sought out. The potential for 'new' payment systems to be transparent is found to be offset by provision for management discretion, but the major contributor to the gap is found to be the development of a two tier workforce following recent restructuring of the industry. This effectively reproduces the gendered divisions that existed prior to the implementation of Equal Opportunities legislation. The women who occupy most of the lower tier are mainly employed in call centres and customer service departments, where they have better pay and conditions than they could expect for alternative jobs in the same locality, sufficient flexibility to accommodate domestic commitments, but a flat career structure with little opportunity for promotion. The few men who join this tier do so as a stepping stone to the traditional departments where promotion provides access to some of the highest salaries in the UK.

In the closing decade of the twentieth century Joümalism was perceived to be in crisis, as profit-driven, corporatized media conglomerates seemed to enforce market driven editorial approaches. What debate there was about such matters in the UK tended to focus on the national news media, particularly that section of the press colloquially known as `Fleet Street'. Yet the impact of these tendencies was also apparently evident among local newspapers, which Tunstall (1996) said had suffered `meltdown'. These titles supposedly contained less news and more newszak (Franklin 1997). One of the most notable consequences of this trend , was an apparent decline in the amount of political information published. Yet at the end of the 1990s more politics was introduced into the UK with the establishment of devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Drawing on descriptions and analyses of the local press in the USA, Canada, Australia and elsewhere, as well as other parts of the UK, this study explores the contemporary making of local news by taking a snapshot of the local press in south-east Wales at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and against the backdrop of the introduction of the National Assembly for Wales. Interviews with a group of local newspaper editors and with a number of journalism educators; documentary and data analysis; post factor participant observation and a short non-participant observation, and thematic textual analysis of a time-based sample of fourteen English-language weekly, two evening, one morning and one Sunday newspapers were undertaken. Specific attention was paid to the reporting of politics. The persistent idea of proximity - the role of constructs of territorial and cognitive place - in journalism was taken as a starting point to utilize the work of Aldridge (2003), Griffin (2002), Hartley (1998), Law (2001), Rossow and Dunwoody (1991) and Temple (2004) to suggest forms of journalism which were banal, precise, enabling and affiliated. These indicated that what was called `news' was routinely scoped, mobilizing identity, utility and association, around what was believed to constitute territorial and cognitive belonging. Moreover, senses of belonging were often complementary rather than conflicting. These ideas challenge the orthodoxy that news is primarily scaled (from `small' to `big') and that journalism is essentially competitive. While it was found that these conditions were not exclusive to the local press, the ways in which they were configured were specific. The key aspect was the preparedness of journalists to concede their `professional' claims to news-making to contributing members of the public. That this occurred far more readily in the local press led to the conclusion that local journalism was not merely a minor variant of journalism practised elsewhere, but a distinct emergent form more ambivalently related to press commercialism. Furthermore, it is suggested that formal press structures and the accepted hierarchies of journalism no longer express as precisely as they were once assumed to such distinctions in contemporary editorial approaches.

This research aims to analyze the Greater China television industry in the context of the debate on globalization. It presents an overview of the transnational corporate practices and the resulting transformation of the Greater China's television industry. The objective of this dissertation is threefold. It analyzes the development of the television industry in Greater China, examines the corporate practices of cross-horder management, and discusses the formation of the Greater China television space. A milestone in Greater China's globalization was Mainland China and Taiwan's accession to WTO, which imposed an obligation on the Chinese authorities towards their media policies. However, the beginning of television transnationalization can be traced back to the appearance of Star TV in 1990. Since then. the pan-Chinese market has emerged as a significant power in the world system. Unsurprisingly, global media conglomerates are keen to set foot in a market with huge potential. At the same time, local companies in quest of new markets have also launched numerous regional television channels that reached beyond the boundaries of their home territory. The Greater China television space is multi-layered, composed of global, regional and national/local players. Six first-tier global media conglomerates are present in the region. This research found that most global companies, such as Viacom, Time Warner, Sony and NBC Universal, were inclined to adopt transnational strategies in their approach to the region. News Corporation and Disney, however, usually employed multinational and global strategies. By contrast, the second-tiered players - for instance TVB and Phoenix TV - were more ethnocentric in their approach to international expansion. This study found that the globalization of television in Greater China is driven by multi-layered transnational television companies, their cross-border TV networks, transnational managerial practices and their glocalization strategy. The Greater China regional media space is increasingly transnational and deterritorialized in character. In addition, factors such as linguistic and cultural proximity are powerful forces in determining the formation of the geo-cultural market. Mandarin. Fellg Simi and GlIlIIlX; have transformed Greater China into a distinctive pan-regional media space both in daily life and business culture. In this transnational space, Hong Kong remains the regional hub. But while economic competition is intense, this study highlights the fact that national states do playa crucial role in shaping this pan-regional market. In the near future. such political harriers will remain a determining factor in the development of the Greater China television space.

This thesis challenges a major theme found in Arab public discourse on youth, that the latter's consumption of television is passive in nature. Much discussion on Arab youth presupposes that the consequences of television for culture and identity are straight forward; that young people are merely passively absorbing materials that are offered. Contesting comments in Arab discourse on youth that to date have relied on unsystematic observation, this study adopts qualitative and quantitative research methods to produce more rigorous empirical data based on close contact with youths. The research recognises that youth (broadly between the ages of 16 and 27) constitutes the largest segment of society in the Arab world but equally, they experience particular disadvantages because of their position in a markedly patriarchal and traditional system. Despite forming such an important percentage of the population, Arab youths complain of low participation or representation in Arab public life, and few writings on Arab youth in Arabic offer insight into their lives, realities and aspirations. The thesis examines the relationship between media consumption and cultural identity, the theoretical framework of which is informed by the topics of concern that were most commonly raised in interviews, and which were ultimately focused on evaluating the satellite programming in relation to their own and others' youth identity. In doing so, the thesis aims to clarify the actual viewing patterns and reception amongst a broad sample of Arab youth. The fieldwork and its methodology, which was undertaken between 2004 and 2006 in Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and the United Arab Emirates, represents one of the few studies within Arab youth that employs direct empirical evidence. The results expose actual youth opinions and concerns regarding satellite programming, how it caters for them, which programmes are the more successful for their needs, and how they perceive its impact on their culture and identity. The thesis also pays attention to the rather dichromatic discourses on the effects of globalization, and Westernization on Arab youth and nationalism, as these are the primary themes adopted by both critical and positive commentators. This research, however, demonstrates that the verbal warnings issued with regards to youth identity arc, in actual fact, rarely founded in reality. For example, it is not conditional that the consumption of entertainment on satellite broadcasting reduces national or religious identity amongst Arab youth. Eating at McDonald's, wearing jeans, or consuming Westcm-style TV programmes, does not necessarily make Arab youth any more pro- Western or Americanized nor less Arab or less nationalist.

This thesis explores the legitimation strategies employed by political actors in Greece and Ireland in asylum policy. The aim of the thesis is to study in comparative perspective the factors that shape the formulation of discourses on asylum in two countries with similar migration histories, as well as a number of similarities and differences in terms of socio-political and economic organisation. Further, the thesis aims at examining the reproduction of the nation state and national identities through the legitimation of asylum policy. It focuses on the period between 1996 and 2004, when the immigration and refugee laws and policies of the two states experienced significant changes. I examine the dominant themes, linguistic features, rhetorical and argumentative strategies employed by political actors, using Critical Discourse Analysis supplemented by the use of NVivo software as a method for the analysis of documents containing political discourse. The analysis also aims at recording patterns of change in the themes entailed in the legitimation strategies over the designated period. The thesis concludes that the legitimation strategies and discourses employed in the context of each country are influenced by the interaction of different contexts. They are shaped by already existing domestic discourses of immigration, asylum and national identity, and by the histories of migration of the two countries. Equally, they are influenced of European Union policies and discourses on the legitimation of policies at domestic level, as well as by international frameworks of protection. The specific themes that dominate legitimation strategies in the two countries should be seen as outcomes of the interaction between these contexts. Furthermore, it is argued that long-standing discourses regarding the state and the national community are both challenged and reproduced through the legitimation of asylum policies.

The central concern of this research is to explore how male parents make sense of and understand their experiences of fathering in a diverse array of family forms. It is a mixed methods study, using both quantitative and qualitative data, to explore the extent to which 'paternal careers' have become more diverse and complex, and the consequences of this complexity for fathers as they negotiate fathering in their everyday lives. Drawing upon data from the British Household Panel Survey it provides a quantitative exploration of the paternal careers of British fathers born between 1920 and 1979, illustrates the changes in family forms and paternal statuses of the fathers and explores attitudes towards fathering, gender roles and different family forms. Using the testimonies of twenty-five male parents this thesis explores how parenting is experienced for contemporary fathers. It illustrates the changing dynamics of families and the impact it has on the way fathers perceive and experience fatherhood. In particular, it focuses on the experiences of stepfathers in multi-father families. This thesis illustrates how stepfathers negotiate the label 'dad' and the extent to which the traditional notions of 'family' are being re-conceptualised to include recognition that children are parented by more than one 'father'. The nature of interpersonal relationships betweenmale parents in multi-father families is also explored.

The problem of male violence against women in intimate relationships has been addressed by the feminist literature over past four decades, but little work exists on the experiences of Pakistani women. This study aimed to explore the experiences of Pakistani women in Scotland who have suffered marital violence. It was based upon feminist perspective and employed qualitative methodology. Interviews with eighteen Pakistani women were carried out. The findings from this study extend an understanding of marital violence in the context of extended family where the perpetrator of violence against a wife is not just a husband but the mother-in-law also. Thus it complicates the understanding of family as site of violence that is not dyadic in nature. The findings also reveal that women can be both victims and perpetrators in their life time when seen through their position in life cycle based hierarchies in their marital homes.

Beck asserts that since the 1950s, broad social transformations have radically altered collective relations. According to Beck, these changes have rendered conventional materialist analyses no longer appropriate to describe the new times we are living in. Beck links radical restructuring of organisational forms with the reorientation of cultural experience and modern selfhood as we move from ‘class’ to ‘risk’ positions (Beck, 1992: Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2003). This thesis employs a creative operationalisation of the key dimensions of Beck’s predictions, allowing them to be tested as hypotheses using data from the women’s magazine sector. Beck’s idea that cultural organisational practice is coming under increasing pressure to reorganise and encompass new principles of social orientation is critically evaluated. The magazine titles selected for analysis represent the different socioeconomic, age and family responsibility status of this sector’s target audience. A longitudinal sample of the representation of food and eating is subject to a textual analysis to catalogue the historical development of these processes. In addition, interviews with editorial staff examine the underlying production principles of mediated selection and framing practice. Empirical evidence is generated to assess whether changing institutional practice is involved in society’s move from one set of social arrangements to another. This thesis essentially evaluates Beck’s assertion that the forces transforming organisational practice are rooted in an innovative institutional drive to democratise. The findings suggest that Beck’s explanation is insufficient and that classical materialist and market-driven accounts of institutional policy and practice remain appropriate.

This is a case study of a project in curriculum development which was undertaken in a Berkshire secondary school between 1986 and 1990. The aim of the study is to describe, analyse, and interpret the processes which were involved in the project: the reasons why it was undertaken, the strategies which it employed, and its impact upon the institution. The idea of an initiative in curriculum development was the product of long term educational and political changes outside the school. The study sets the project in its educational context, by tracing the origins of a theory of multicultural/anti-racist education. It then analyses the socio-political context, to explain why there was a shift in government education policy in the early 1980s, in the direction of multiculturalism. In 1986 Parkview school was invited to participate in a DES funded course, designed to pilot approaches in implementing the new policy. The project resulted from Parkview's participation. The study explains the situation of the school at that time, and shows how it influenced the way in which the project developed. Evaluation exercises carried out towards the end of the initiative suggested that the project led to significant development in the school's formal curriculum; that it contributed towards a change in the ethos of the school; and that it had other unanticipated but beneficial effects. The reasons for the success of the project are analysed, and compared with theories of change. Since the project was undertaken there have been considerable changes in the political context of education. In particular, there has been a decisive shift towards a market-led view of education as primarily concerned with economic growth rather than social justice. The study asks how the changes which have resulted (such as the National Curriculum, and the diminished role of LEAs) have affected the cause of multicultural/anti-racist education; and concludes by considering how teachers might contribute towards curriculum development in the future.