This thesis provides a sociologically informed understanding of the intersubjective meanings of historical and emergent transgender identities and practices in Scotland. An investigation of the social construction of gender variant identities was conducted by means of an interpretative analysis, developed out of theories of phenomenology, ethnomethodology, symbolic interactionism and performativity, applied to the formation of gendered subjectivities. Empirical data took the form of narrative histories gathered through 38 in-depth interviews with 28 transgender-identified participants currently living in Scotland. As the first exclusively qualitative sociological study of transgender conducted in Scotland, the thesis contributes towards: research examining the formative experiences of trans people; research recording the narrative histories of older trans people; research methods for recruiting small, hidden, hard to reach populations; and a sociological understanding of the social construction of transgender identities and practices, in the context of changing legislation and social attitudes in Scotland.

Although there are many studies on interactivity in museums in terms of enhancing learning, achieving educational objectives, structuring and orchestrating visitor engagement, democratising knowledge, exploring social interaction and bringing more audiences in to the museum space, they often do not take the multifaceted nature and context-dependency of interactivity into account. Throughout the thesis, I argue that the practice of digital interactivity in museum spaces should not be fetishized, but it must be examined and understood, depending on the context and the setting it takes place in. The approach undertaken in this study brings philosophical and theoretical perspectives on physical, emotional and technological interactivity and its multiple threads into dialogue with ethnographic research in two exhibition spaces: the permanent Galleries of Modern London, at the Museum of London, and the temporary High Arctic exhibition, at the National Maritime Museum, London. The study extends existing literature in two respects. First, attention is paid to the concerns reflected in different approaches to the digital interactivity in museum spaces: I term factual and poetic interactivity as two techniques and forms directly related to the empirical examples. The analysis and this distinction offer a platform to theorise and discuss nuances and tendencies of digital interactivity in museum spaces. Second, it identifies the multiplicity of modes of interactivity as perceived by visitors and museum professionals in and around two museums, foregrounding not only the technological aspect, but also the content and the processes of interaction through sensorial and embodied means such as touch, play and immersion. Together, the findings foreground and engage with an approach to digital interactivity, which discusses how a complex assemblage of institutional practices, multisensory experiences, and affective and cognitive dimensions are at work and at play in digitally mediated environments.

Against widespread prognostications, the Internet has not entailed the demise of commercial women's magazines. Yet print publications are being supplanted by online versions, which are proliferating. These websites offer similar content free of charge and significantly greater opportunities for interaction. This thesis is a feminist qualitative study of contemporary online magazines targeting young women, based in the UK and in Spain. Focusing on twelve publications- six from each country- the research inquires into the different but interrelated dimensions of text, user and production. In particular, it asks questions about changes and challenges brought about by the online environment. Of especial interest are representations of gender, sex, sexuality and intimate relationships. In the context of a resurgence of interest in feminist ideas and engagement, the thesis also examines the ways in which women's magazines relate to- and reconfigure- feminism. The research adopts a multi-methods approach, and draws on a large body of different data. Comprising the primary data are: a) 270 editorial articles; b) 2.657 peer-to-peer messages posted on the sites' discussion forms; and c) 68 interviews with producers, primarily editors and writers. Additionally informing the study is an assortment of supplementary material, including: magazine public communications, archived print copies, trade press, news reports on the sector, and field notes from events organised by interested parties. Influenced by a social constructionist perspective, the analysis uses thematic, discourse and conjunctural approaches, thereby making connections between the details of text and talk, wider cultural sensibilities, and the socio-historical context at large. It deploys postfeminism as a critical analytical term to capture gendered features of contemporary cultural life, and engages with feminist work aiming to understand the operation of power under neoliberalism. A number of new concepts are advanced to make sense of the identified landscape of patrioarcho-neoliberal power, including 'postfeminist biologism' and 'confidence chic', and to capture shifts taking place in the industry, such as an all-encompassing 'authenticity turn', together with the interpellation of a new subject online: the 'shareaholic'. The research contributes empirical insights and critical theorisations concerning the contemporary young woman's (online) magazine, and digital journalism and Internet cultures more generally. Furthermore, this thesis offers understandings about cultural discourses and contestations around sex, gender and sexuality, and about the relationship between femininity, feminism, commercial and popular media cultures: capturing both Spain/UK national specifities and transnational patterns.

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In recent years there has been a steady increase in risk-averse, bureaucratic responses to the uncertainty, ambiguity and risk inherent in contemporary child care social work. This thesis argues that for these conditions to be effectively addressed professional responses are required that challenge the domination of ineffective bureaucratic approaches, which have as their primary objective the elimination of uncertainty and risk. The emergence of relationship-based practice is an approach to practice which ofkrs this possibility. However, the development of relationship-based practice is dependent on practitioners and managers re-conceptualising their understanding of human behaviours - their own as well as those of the children and families they work with - and expanding the knowledges informing their practice. In essence, the development of relationship-based approaches to practice is contingent on social workers becoming accomplished reflective practitioners. Within the literature reflective practice is recognised as complex and there is a paucity of empirical evidence relating to social work practitioners' understandings and experiences of it. This research endeavours to contribute towards an enhanced understanding of the nature of reflective practice and the conditions which facilitate its development. The research findings, generated from ethnographic case studies of two family support teams, suggest that the potential for reflective practice is greater in work contexts which afford containing, reflective spaces in which practitioners have the opportunity to think, feel and talk about their work. Team structures and practices and team managers are identified as pivotal in determining the existence and ef&ctiveness of these reflective, containing spaces. The thesis concludes by outlining a model of containing, reflective spaces and with a call for such spaces to be encouraged as an integral and essential feature of contemporary child care social work practice.

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This study investigated the following question, ‘What are the constraints and/or empowerments placed on the emotions and behaviour of young people from similar and different backgrounds?’ To address this question I investigated whether storytelling could be used to explore narratives of conformity, transgression and transformation in young people’s conversations. Data were obtained through an innovative research method I called “the storytelling space” in three Warwickshire schools (2013). Fairy tales were selected, from written and stable literary texts, for their emotional and behavioural themes relevant to young people’s situation. Storytellers told tales orally over five subsequent weeks to six groups of four young people of mixed gender, ethnicity, academic ability and socio-economic background. Young people aged 12-14, led subsequent focus group conversations guided by a facilitator, which were recorded and transcribed. To answer the questions posed above, storytelling was a valuable way to gather knowledge about young people’s experiences. A range of conformative, transgressive and transformative associations were formed between the stories and the students’ lives. The students discussed constraints placed on behaviour by legal and adult authority; raised transgressive concerns by refusing to accept fairy tales gender stereotypes; and discussed the transformation of emotion into socially appropriate displays. Education appeared to empower students where teachers were reactive to student needs, and seemed to disempower them when teachers were strict or used language which alienated pupils. Young people’s behaviour appeared conformative to adult-figures yet students gained power and justified transgressive acts, such as stealing, via their emotions, such as jealousy. A comparative analysis between schools demonstrated young people’s responses to oral storytelling were shaped by social processes, such as wider legislation and class inequality. Some responses to story were connected to the reproduction of inequality in educational practices illustrated in the way that rural-mixed students discussed and questioned the stories, experienced positive student-teacher interactions and, engaged with after-school or beyond school, activities. These were factors which enriched the students’ interpretations by providing additional experiences to relate to the stories. Some all-female and urban-mixed students had access to out-of-school experiences. The storytelling space offered those groups of young people flexible ways in which to broaden their perspectives, increase confidence and create friendships through the social discussion of story. Storytelling appeared adaptable to student needs, therefore more empowering than constraining, because groups constructed knowledge from the stories in relation to their own experiences. They also identified that the contrasting opinions of others’ were valid. There was more evidence of conformity, and transformation towards conformity, in student conversations than transgression. I conclude that there was a tendency in the discussions for young people to respond to storytelling with examples of conformative and transformative emotional and behavioural “norms” rather than transgressive acts.

This thesis seeks to examine the root causes of over-medication in China. I have applied Donald Light’s theoretical model of “Countervailing Powers” in the context of socio-economic transition in China, focusing on the important causes of over-medication (over-prescription) in the healthcare system and seeking to explore how the interacting powers of government, the pharmaceutical industry and the medical profession relate to the phenomenon of prescription drug over-use. The study has mainly used documentary and interview research methods. The primary methods of data collection are: 1) a review of documents and literatures obtained from governmental (e.g. MOH report and Year Book of Public Health, etc.) and non-governmental sources, and 2) semi-structured and structured interviews that focus on doctors in Shandong Province. The findings of this thesis suggest that a complex of interactive social relationships in China causes its problem of over-medication. These include insufficient government subsidy for hospitals and doctors, loopholes in the drug pricing policy and regulations, close ties between the pharmaceutical industry and doctors, doctors’ prescribing practice, and the financial incentives involved in drug sales. This thesis is the first study to apply the countervailing powers theory in China’s healthcare context. The study of the interaction between different groups of actors in the healthcare domain provides a novel understanding of the phenomenon of over-medication in China. The findings are expected to contribute to the development of strategies and recommendations that could reduce drug over-use and improve the healthcare system by improving policy design, implementation and evaluation, doctors’ prescribing behaviour and the doctor–patient relationship. The analytical results of this research will also shed some critical light on current global issues concerning the role of the state and effective healthcare policy implementation in the healthcare domain.