This thesis is a comparative and historical study of nursing in Britain and the USA from 1860 to 1970. The framework for the enquiry is drawn from the sociology of occupations and professions and the material is oriented specifically to the suggestion that occupational groups 'professionalise' and that professionalisation is a quest for power. There are four parts. Part one reviews the literature on professions which was available in the early 1970s, noting the strong consensus of what are called 'sceptical theorists' around the theme of professional power. It also examines a more substantive literature on nursing, for its bearing on this theme, and outlines a research design. The design involves the specification of areas of power and of indicators of the amount of power held. It sugges ways in which empirical materials might be, collected, largely from secondary sources. Part two presents data on control gained by nurses in both countries in relation to two areas of entry and training. Reasons are given why the research design needed to be modified to produce a much more exploratory and interpretative account than had been envisaged. Differences in the matrix of institutions surrounding the regulation of nursing and the ways they function in the two settings are covered, still in the context of asking questions about the locus of power. The weaknesses of this style of analysis prompt an approach in part 3 which departs further from the original specifications. Nursing is seen as engaged less in a direct quest for control and more in a struggle for meaning. Three chapters deal in turn with concepts of the nurse and her work, aspects of the formulation and presentation of nursing knowledge and some of the strategies and struggles in which nurses have collectively engaged. A deliberate effort is made to build on and use the crosscultural, comparative opportunities presented by these data. The concluding section assesses the relevance of these analyses for the sociology of occupations and professions, suggesting that although the sceptical theorists of the early 1970s performed an important service in highlighting the normative nature of the concept of profession, they did not suggest altogether satisfactory ways of coming to terms with it. Two appendices are included, one providing additional statistical material for chapters 3 and 4, the other discussing issues of theory and method which arise in an historical and sociological project such as this.

This thesis provides the first extended and in-depth study of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu?s work on literature. Chapter 1 surveys the problematic from which Bourdieu?s work on literature emerged, and its reception in the Anglophone field of literary criticism. Chapter 2 introduces Bourdieu?s original method of literature analysis, which has yet to have been used widely in literary studies, but which provides analytic purchase at all levels of literary study, from the micro-textual to the macrosocial. Chapter 3 centres on Bourdieu?s notion of autonomy, and explores its relations to his key concepts of habitus, capital, and field. Chapters 4 to 6 then examine the intersections between Bourdieu? work on literature and his other sociological and political projects. Chapter 4 shows how Bourdieu?s theory of sociological knowledge enabled him to set up a distinction between a ?scientific? and a ?literary? representation of the social world, and explores the possibilities for complementarities and exchange between sociology and literature. Chapter 5 shows how Bourdieu hoped to harness the specific skills and symbolic capital of writers in the service of progressive causes, focusing on his plans for an International Parliament of Writers and Liber, his European book review. Chapter 6 explores the cultural policy implication of Bourdieu?s work on literature, both for educational reform and State support for the Arts. Overall, this thesis will show that Bourdieu brings novel solutions to some of the most persistent ? and urgent ? problems facing literary studies today, and not only in France; but also that sociology can learn from literature and from studying literary writers.

This study examines the theoretical and practical tensions and contradictions of multiculturalism in Taiwan. It combines cultural theory, cultural studies, and cultural policy to explore how western theories of multiculturalism can been practised in Taiwan's experience, and discuss the development of cultural policy in Taiwan. Based on its unique history, Taiwanese society is struggling with two problems. One is the lack of common national identity. The clash between Chinese identity and Taiwanese identity has led to other conflicts within the whole society. The other problem is related to inequality among the various cultural communities, which has created a crisis in political legitimacy and social justice. In response to these challenges multiculturalism has become an important influence in cultural policy in Taiwan, and 'multicultural Taiwan' is constructed as a new national identity. Because of the contradictory aspirations of homogeneous national identity and recognition of cultural differences three major challenges are posed by the emergence of multiculturalism in Taiwan. The first is related to national identity. Under the name of 'multicultural Taiwan', the government is seeking to construct a more complex, multifaceted and sustainable version of Taiwanese culture capable of mediating between the diversity and conflicts arising from ethnicity. However, multiculturalism, which is based on the recognition of various ethnic identities, also leads to tension between an integrative national identity and separate ethnic identities. The second challenge is related to cultural policy, which shows the tensions between integration and separation, between individual rights and collective rights in cultural policy. The third challenge is related to citizenship in Taiwan. The new concept of multicultural citizenship demands the acknowledgement of more rights, such as collective rights, cultural rights, minority rights and global citizenship, in defiance of the traditional views of citizenship based on civil, political and social rights, and national boundaries. Three case studies have been selected to reflect each issue: the Taiwanese aborigines, the Hakkas and migrant workers. By considering these three challenges, I try to redefine multiculturalism and cultural policy in the Taiwanese experience. Firstly, I seek to redefine multiculturalism as 'multicultural citizenship' in the case of Taiwan. Multicultural citizenship is seen as a new balance between 'integration' and 'diversity' in the development of multiculturalism in Taiwan. On the one hand, multicultural citizenship is related to the construction of a common public sphere and nation; on the other hand, it is also related to respect for cultural diversity and special communities in the private sphere. Secondly, I try to redefine cultural policy in Taiwan in terms of cultural rights and multicultural citizenship, which embody the link between people and the state. Cultural policy should protect cultural rights and strengthen the relationship between people and cultural policy. Similarly, multicultural policy should be based upon cultural rights and multicultural citizenship. When implemented, it should then improve multiculturalism. Thirdly, I conclude that the problems of national identity and cultural differences should be considered on the basis of multicultural citizenship.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a medical diagnosis, applied mainly but not exclusively to children. Diagnosis of ADHD is a controversial issue as the validity of the condition is questioned, and the main form of intervention offered to children in the UK is Methylphenidate, better known as Ritalin, which is a psycho-stimulant. It is also controversial because it rests on the assumption of a particularly westernised cultural conception of what 'normal' childhood behaviour should be, yet dominant discourses of child development and socialisation have influenced this view of children as less competent, immature and in need of moulding to fit societal demands. The orthodox position on ADHD also appears to compound this assumption, as research which includes the experiential accounts of children who have the diagnosis is extremely rare. Children's own views and perceptions of the diagnosis have not been valued. This thesis is based on in-depth qualitative interviews with seven children aged between 6 and 15 and their parents, plus a small-scale parental survey. In addition, observations of health care professionals' practice, carried out at a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, will help to demonstrate that only by giving full consideration to the complexity of medical and lay perspectives can an understanding of ADHD as a concept, a condition, a label, and an experience be achieved. In this study 'medicalisation' debates have been used as a means of reflecting on the concept of AD}ID. It is suggested that within the health professional/parent/child triangle dominant discourses position children as passive and dependenwith their health being mediated through their parents. By drawing attention to the embodied nature of the experience and meaning of ADHD it will be shown that the valuable and insightful contributions which children and young people make to the health care division of labour have largely been neglected to date.

Much research investigating deception and its detection has focused upon face-to-face communication, but over recent years the variety and extent of new communication media has changed the contexts in which deception might take place. Although work has attempted to characterise communication media, a much smaller body of research exists which has investigated the frequency with which people lie with different media and the detection of deceit under different communication media conditions. Through questionnaires and experimental studies, this work investigated the perceptions that both deceivers (senders) and those attempting to identify lies (receivers) have about communication media and how this relates to their observed behaviour. Results from questionnaire studies suggested that both the characteristics of deception and media influence people's perceived discomfort and believability when lying and the media choices they might make if they are planning to deceive. Some important factors appeared to be the seriousness of the deception, who senders are lying to, and the general frequency with which they use particular means to communicate. Communication media were judged to be similar and dissimilar to each other on a range of characteristics which may impact their appropriateness for deception and lie detection. There was evidence that media used at low frequency in daily life may be more likely to be chosen for deception. In laboratory studies, senders were found to lie more frequently using audio-only media compared to audio-video. There was evidence from experimental studies that detection of deceit was more successful when communication was audio only compared to audio-video. There was little consistent evidence that judgement biases varied between media conditions, but a truth bias was identified in experimental studies. No evidence was identified that interactivity between senders and receivers significantly influenced response biases or lie detection accuracy. A small corpus of messages recorded under audio-video and audio-only conditions were selected for their detectability or believability from two senders, and presented in modified formats to receivers. Stimuli had video removed or introduced, and were presented as audio-only, audio-video, text-only and video-only. The results suggested that detectability of audio-video and audio-only stimuli was dependent upon the condition stimuli were recorded under rather than presented. When messages were only seen and not heard or read, accuracy of lie detection was compromised. There was evidence that judging transcriptions could allow successful detection, but the accuracy of lie detection was typically lower than demonstrated in richer media conditions. These findings may imply that a combination of information channels and/or paraverbal information is important for accurate classification of honesty and lies. Limitations of the studies and directions for further research were discussed.

Agency attribution is the ability to distinguish between events that occur as a result of our own actions and events that occur as a result of the actions of other people. Previous accounts of agency attribution have been mainly divided into two camps, either explaining agency in terms of high-level conscious processes (Stephens and Graham, 2000) or low-level Comparator Model (CM) processes (Frith et al. 2000). Recently, however, theorists have begun to incorporate these two approaches, but as the bulk of previous experiments fail to specify which aspects of agency are investigated, little empirical evidence exists to inform us about how these different mechanisms interact. The aim of the current thesis was to tease apart these processes by examining high-level self/other judgments and low-level motor responses to actual and perturbed visual feedback of self-generated actions. Results from Chapters 3, 4 and 5 suggest that low-level (CM) agency mechanisms are situated in right hemisphere regions, disruption of which can reduce high-level self-judgments (Chapter 5). Proprioception was also found to negatively inform high-level judgments, as reducing proprioceptive signals increased self-judgments and visual-proprioceptive incongruence increased other judgments (Chapters 6 and 7). In terms of low-level agency mechanisms, however, visual-proprioceptive congruence was found to enhance low-level correction of visual perturbations (Chapter 8). Results from Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 provide evidence for a lack of high-level conscious awareness of low-level motor responses, as participants failed to notice their own low-level corrections (Chapter 8) and as a result failed to recognise their own actions (Chapter 9). Therefore, the current body of research provides evidence for a visual-proprioceptive comparison as an integral component of low-level (CM) agency mechanisms, and that these CM processes do not produce feelings of agency per se, but identify mismatches that inform and are then interpreted by conscious awareness.

This thesis explores the subjective experience of ageing with a particular focus on midlife. I argue that midlife signifies an important phase of transition in the life course which is often characterised by essential changes in personal circumstances. Although many of these changes are anticipated their impact can still come as a surprise, reawakening old psychological threats and anxieties as well as creating new ones. The death of parents, children leaving home, changes at work and an awareness of an ageing body: these changes are usually anticipated at a practical level but can create a sense of emotional instability and insecurity. The three central themes of this thesis include the way the ageing process is experienced physically and how this in turn, effects the individual psychologically, the way personal and family relationships change during this period and the impact this has and finally how people evaluate their lives and compare this evaluation to their imagined sense of what they thought their lives would be like. I highlight how the social experiences and cultural expectations which influence attitudes and pragmatic reactions to ageing are necessarily intertwined with unconscious psychic processes, conflicts and ambivalence. My method involves interviewing twenty-two men and women aged between thirty-nine and fifty-eight years old using a psycho-social approach. This method focuses on how individuals emotionally and psychically deal with age-related changes. I conclude that midlife is a time of complex emotional and psychical conflict which is triggered and challenged through a culmination of natural and anticipated losses. In order for people to negotiate midlife and move forward in a positive and productive way they must first acknowledge and then accept the natural losses and disappointments that life inevitably brings.

This study provides a contribution to the sociology of religion by examining the relationship between Hinduism and the Internet - an area largely neglected by scholars of religion and the Internet. A theoretical discussion as to the suitability of cyberspace for Hinduism - which concludes that there is a high level of compatibility - is followed by a discussion of embodiment (a relatively neglected topic in sociology) in Hinduism in order to assess whether online religious activity which does not require full embodiment could be problematic. Although there is no natural fit between Hinduism and online religious activity, such activity is extensive; and this gives rise to a number of empirical research questions about online practices and their implications for Hinduism 'offline'. Empirical research was carried out both online and 'offline'. Online, data was obtained through the utilisation of innovative research methods which were able to map Hinduism on the WWW and uncover the processes that are occurring. An important finding was that a relatively small number of Hindu organisations are effectively monopolising Hinduism online. Significant websites were also analysed. 'Offline', research was carried out at mandirs (Hindu Temples) in India. The prime research method used was the semi-structured interview. The informants were high-ranking mandir officials. Owners of web sites offering a puja (ritual honouring a deity) service were also interviewed. The online and 'offline' research did not constitute discrete lines of enquiry, and findings were analysed together in the light of sociological theories of embodiment and globalisation, and rational choice theory. These theories contribute to the understanding of processes that are occurring in Hinduism and, in turn, the findings suggested revisions of the theoretical ideas. The main conclusion is that despite globalisation and the pre-eminent role that the Internet plays in it - contrary to the assertions of some globalisation theorists -local sites of Hindu practice do not necessarily decline in importance. Instead, there is an interpenetration of the local and the global as a result of online Hinduism.

This thesis examines images and dialogues of the male body in contemporary men’s lifestyle magazines. Taking the examples of two top-selling British men’s lifestyle magazines FHM and Men’s Health, and their respective websites, I unpack mediated constructions of white, heterosexual masculinities using the combined methods of semiology, discourse analysis and non-participant observation. The male body is central to this project, and the ways that it is represented as idealized and grotesque are analysed for the ways that they each impact upon perceptions of white heterosexual masculinities and conceptions of the ‘Other’. Reading the male body as idealised and grotesque also introduces wider feminist debates on the male gaze, representation, and whether the grotesque can be theorised from the perspective of masculinities. The construction of online communities and reader dialogues is also examined in relation to discourses of the body, identity and masculinity. The work in this thesis explores the basis for contemporary representations of white heterosexual masculinities and male bodies in men’s lifestyle magazines and their respective websites.

This study is concerned with the process by which community among working class people is defined and redefined in the course of collective political activity. Specifically it analyses the potential role of trade unions in the development of community in residential settlements where the labour market is shaped by a major workplace. The empirical research was carried out in two Yorkshire mining villages in the three years following the 1984/85 Miners' Strike. A range of research techniques were employed to investigate the nature of `community' in the villages before, during and after the Strike. The first part of the thesis provides the necessary historical and political context, investigating the development of the miners' union and the issues involved in the 1984/85 Strike. The second part consists of an ethnographic study of Armthorpe, a village with an open pit. I describe the process by which the union branch, as the vehicle through which the coalmining population collectively encountered their employers and the state, provided a core around which a democratic and dynamic village community could be developed. I outline the population's mobilisation in 1984/85 and analyse the effects of their strike involvement on the village community. A central platform of the NUM in 1984/85 was the defence of `jobs, pits and communities'. In order to investigate the impact of pit closures on community, the final part of my thesis consists of a subsidiary study of Moorends, a nearby village where the pit was closed in 1957. I describe the very different experience of its population in 1984/85 and analyse the nature of social relationships in the Strike's aftermath. I conclude by suggesting that the 1984/85 Miners' strike illustrates the potential of collective struggle for creating `community' among working class people on a variety of levels.