In the UK the transition to higher education is being made by increasing numbers of students. While the decision to attend university is not one which is made by all young people, for those who choose to enter education, this transition is arguably one of the most important and complex periods of the life course. This thesis provides an empirical, qualitative, study of UK-based millennials as they transition to higher education. The study focuses on students narratives of their experiences of the transition in the weeks leading up to the physical transition and in the first few weeks of university. In order to build a comprehensive understanding of the period, the research places focus on exploring the intersection of the participant cohort‘s experiences of adulthood, moving away from home, and changes to the structures of their personal communities. To provide a rich source of data, thirty-four interviews were conducted across two research sites: Keele University and Manchester Metropolitan University. Interview data is analysed through the theoretical lens of van Gennep‘s Les rites de passage. The research places specific focus on analysing how the infiltration of social media into the everyday lives of millennials has altered their rites of passage with respect to their transition to university. Findings suggest that social media has evolved the ways in which millennial students manage their personal communities during the transition to university, and this impacts how students experience the stages of separation, transition and incorporation as outlined in Les rites de passage.

There is ample evidence that people act to ensure the well-being of others by sharing their income. Extensive research shows of the many positive aspects associated with income sharing and the so called “sharing norms” that serve to enforce this practice as well as of how one can further encourage income sharing and sharing norms. In this thesis, I present experimental evidence illustrating that, in some cases, income sharing and sharing norms may have negative consequences for some individuals. The evidence presented also shows that people’s desire to share income with others may in fact be more robust than sometimes proposed in the literature. Chapter 2 is based on a field experiment in rural communities in Kenya. It shows that individuals in these communities live by sharing norms that clearly prescribe them to share their income with others at the expense of personal savings. For women, these norms are more proscriptive of savings if information about income is public to others in their community rather than private. These norms, and their interaction with public information, systematically affect individuals’ actual savings in interest-bearing bank accounts. Chapter 3 shows that having the possibility to share income with others can put people in a choice dilemma that is mentally demanding and costly. A lab experiment is used that lets participants make decisions as dictators in modified dictator games that expose them to tradeoffs between their self-interest and the interest of others. Other participants make similar decisions with the difference that there is no tradeoff between their own self-interest and the interest of others. The study shows that participants who have been exposed to such tradeoffs, on average, perform worse in a task that measures cognitive resources and willpower compared to participants who have not been exposed to tradeoffs. Chapter 4 shows that individuals’ willingness to share income with others may be more robust than sometimes suggested in previous literature. Different versions of the dictator game are used to investigate individuals’ willingness to help others (by sharing their income) in an appeal-for-help situation in which several individuals have the possibility to share income with a person with lower income and where at most one of them can do so. As a group, individuals make the recipient of the dictator game better off when all, rather than only one, of them are able to share their income. This evidence challenges a common interpretation of behaviour in related literature, which assumes reduced concerns for others and an erosion of pro-social values when the responsibility to help lies on several potential helpers.

Informed by the study of humans and machines in heterogeneous networks, this thesis examines how relations are made and how the discursive ordering within networks of associations can shape technologies and their worlds. In a critical exploration of the introduction and use of X-ray Volumetric Imaging (XVI) into radiotherapy practice in two locations, I show how processes of embedding this system and its uncertainties were managed. X-ray Volumetric Imaging, the focus of a number of fundraising campaigns in the mid 2000s, was introduced accompanied by a fanfare of newness and discourses of ‘hope’, ‘inspiring clinical confidence’ and ‘accuracy’. The XVI, and the possibilities it affords, were incorporated into strategic planning priorities across the UK based on a rationale of self-evidence and despite the absence of health technology assessment (the customary way of analysing the use and establishment of technologies into the UK’s National Health Service). Using an ethnographic approach, the hidden work during the introduction of the XVI (e.g. demands made on patients, practices and practitioners) becomes visible and the ‘price’ of accuracy (e.g. issues of additional radiation dose) is revealed. Through exploring these areas, the contingencies, contradictions and complexities involved as attempts were made to make the XVI durable or ‘work’ in practice, are discussed. My exploration of the contemporary introduction of XVI draws on history of science and technology, science studies, organisation studies and feminist studies of technoscience. I explore the introduction of XVI and the ‘experimental’ nature of its introduction, set against uncertainties regarding the system’s effectiveness and consequences. The thesis contributes to STS scholarship on the importance of human/non-human collectives in showing how heterogeneous arrangements contribute to ordering and organising technologies in practice. I provide a case study which critically reflects upon the way in which a machine’s capabilities are presented in isolation of the demands made on humans and the consequences of these introductions. In doing so I demonstrate different ways of seeing XVI technologies, the disparity between people’s hopes, alongside technological promises which are yet to be realised, and the work that is done in order for such systems to fit into practice.

This dissertation examines and clarifies Heidegger's contribution to our understanding of the important issues of self-deception and inauthenticity in psychotherapy. After some preliminary remarks on the concepts of inauthenticity and self-deception the first part of the dissertation explores Heidegger's fundamental ontology as detailed in 'Being and Time'. Dasein's temporal nature and its relationship to death are considered in the context of the central concept of Care (Sorge) and its basic structures of thrownness (Geworfenheit), falling (verfallen) and existence (Existenz). This leads to a discussion of the existentials of disposition (Befindlichkeit), anxiety (Angst), understanding (verstehen) and discourse (Rede). After this preliminary exposition Heidegger's views on inauthenticity (Uneigentlichkeit) and authenticity (Eigentlichkeit) are explored, with a central focus on fallenness (verfallen) and its manifestations of idle talk (Gerede), curiosity (Neugier), ambiguity (Zweideutigkeit) and self-forgetting (selbstvergessen). Now the scene is set for an investigation of Heidegger's views on how inauthenticity is overcome and the notion of truth (Wahrheit), anxiety (Angst), call of conscience (6ewissenruf) and resoluteness (Entschluss) are studied in some detail. This leads to a description of authentic ways of being in a situation (Situation), being-towards-death (Sein zum Tode), the moment of vision (Augenblick) and repetition (Wiederholung). A full summary of Heidegger's ideas is given before a critique is formulated in light of Sartre's views, Fingarettes contribution and Heidegger's later work. It emerges that there is no place for a theory of self-deception in Heidegger. His descriptions of inauthenticity and forgetting show untruth to be a matter of alienation (Entfremdung) and closing off (verschliessen) rather than a matter of deceit. The thesis shows the significance of this alternative point of view. It is argued that Heidegger's objective for Dasein is to have vision, which means to be capable of both authentic, owned and engaged ways of existing as well as inauthentic, disowned and disengaged ways of existing. In final analysis the challenge of human existence for Heidegger is about being true to life rather than being true to self. Being true to life is inevitably about the equiprimordiality and equality of both inauthentic and authentic ways of being. To be loyal to existence therefore involves increasing transparency and openness to different modes of being. The thesis' orginal contribution is to show that this is a sound and new objective for existential psychotherapy. At the same time Sartres and Fingarette s perspectives on self-deception highlight Heidegger's failure to address the issue of self-deception directly. This is shown to be due mostly to Heidegger's lack of focus on ontic issues, his refusal to consider a moral and ethical dimension to his work and his replacement of a theory of self with a description of Daseins world relations. While this is in some ways a strength and an original position that allows us to view human existence from a new perspective, it leaves doubt about what Heidegger could have made of the ontic issues raised by applying his ideas in counselling and psychotherapy. The thesis takes Heidegger's ontological theory to a new, ontic dimension and a practical and concrete application. Heidegger himself suggested in the Zollikon seminars that his thought should be so applied and the final part of the thesis is constituted by my published work, which has been dedicated to this project. The three books in which this application is described are enclosed together with the philosophical part of the dissertation and they are each briefly discussed in light of the argument about inauthenticity and self-deception. It is shown how the ontic realities of psychotherapy place new demands on Heidegger's thinking whilst Heidegger's thinking at the same time provides a challenging basis for therapeutic clarity about human existence.

Chapter I introduces the thesis by giving the background to the research, analyses what is al ready known about art theft and the criminals involved, and then considers the gaps in Our knowledge. It finishes by examining the challenge of theorizing and researching art security. The methodology follows in chapter 2, before chapter 3 analyses the co• production of risk in the security sites and situates the threat. The subsequent four chapters examine the co-production of security. Chapter 4 analyses the public police and security, and chapter 5 private sector security, investigation and loss adjustment. Chapters 6 and 7 examine insurance as enabling risk and security, and governmental nodes enabling security beyond insurance. Chapters 8 and 9 consider the future, with chapter 8 focusing on the co-production and chapter 9 presenting final conclusions.

Obesity and being overweight are known contributors to ill health and are subject to growing concern from health professionals and policy makers. The prevalence of obese and overweight adults is higher in the learning disability population than in the general population for reasons that are unclear. Food choice is influenced by many social and environmental factors. Constructions of health may also affect food choice, influencing the extent to which individuals believe it is worth acting upon healthy eating messages. This thesis examines the attitudes towards food of adults with learning disabilities and the meanings they attached to health, to healthy eating and to food. Using data gathered from interviews with 23 people with learning disabilities in the Greater Glasgow area, it demonstrates the multiple meanings ascribed to food and the many barriers to food choice people with a learning disability experience. The data found that participants held complex, often competing ideas about health. Many did not believe that it was something over which they could exert any meaningful control and this negatively impacted on their actions to improve their health. Choice and control were found to be the two most important elements in construction of food choice. Although almost all participants had a good basic knowledge of healthy eating guidelines, decisions about food and food choice were often taken by support workers, parents, family members or other gatekeepers. This lack of choice and control over food was reflected in their opportunities in their wider lives and impacted on their attitudes towards their general health. Participants became disengaged from the processes associated with food and some believed that they were not capable of developing their skills or implementing their dietary knowledge. Further, health was viewed as being subject to luck or the intervention of others. Without a sense of self-efficacy in their wider lives, people with learning disabilities might struggle to make positive changes for their health.

Gambling is a complex social behaviour. How behaviour is shaped can vary within different historical and cultural contexts: to date, it is rare for the impact of these different contexts to be examined. The study of gambling has been (largely) entrenched within a bio-medical paradigm, where problematic gambling is viewed as an innate characteristic of the individual. This focus limits understanding about the ways in which gambling behaviour is shaped and also limits the range of policy responses to intervention with ‘problematic’ individuals. Specific examination of the way different contexts and mechanisms, both proximate and distal, shape behaviour has not been undertaken. The term ‘prisoners of the proximate’ (Hanlon et al, 2012) is an apt description of much contemporary gambling research. This thesis seeks to explore alternative ways to frame the study of gambling behaviour and argues that a focus on contexts and how behaviour varies for whom and under what circumstances is appropriate. This builds on Pawson and Tilley’s (1997) principles of realist evaluation and Pawson’s (2006) work on realist review to consider what realist description might look like as a form of empirical investigation. This includes recognition of the inherent subjectivity of all research and advocates an expansive analytical approach whereby many different types of evidence are brought together to examine a particular issue. To do this, this thesis draws on secondary analysis of existing data, historical evidence and theoretical review. This approach is applied to the study of female gambling behaviour. By drawing together data generated from the 1940s to the present day, it demonstrates how patterns of gambling behaviour are gendered and how gambling preferences vary based on prevailing social and political norms and legislation. This thesis argues that a process of ‘re-”feminisation”’ of gambling is evident in Britain today. In addition, the diversity of female gambling behaviour among different groups of women is explored, as is variation based on individual, social and spatial characteristics. This is achieved by using many different sources of data (mainly large-scale government surveys such as the Health Survey for England, the British Gambling Prevalence Survey series, the Taking Part survey) but also by supplementing these datasets with administrative information about the spatial patterning of gambling venues to broaden the scope of investigation. A number of different analytic techniques are used (factor analysis, latent class analysis, survival analysis and more standard descriptive methods) to explore how behaviour varies for different women in different circumstances. Using an expansive approach to secondary data analysis, whereby information from different studies is used to explore female patterns of behaviour from different viewpoints, creates a more nuanced understanding of female gambling behaviour. This is the purpose of realist description. It is an approach which recognises that not everything is the same for all people in all circumstances. Recognising this diversity at the outset of investigation provides a platform to explore this in depth. This thesis argues that this recognition should underpin the design and analysis of primary survey research to provide a more solid basis upon which to consider why behaviour varies. Doing so creates a solid foundation for a more considered examination of what type of policy interventions are most appropriate, for whom, and under what circumstances.

This research is concerned with processes of choice in consumers and models of consumer behaviour. It also envisages a broader contribution towards economics in general to clarify how preferences in economic agents arise and change. The research question is: “are the models and factors of evaluation predicted by experts applicable to real cases?” Factors of value and evaluation processes will be observed in real world participants and in everyday behaviour. The results will be compared to models found in the consumer research literature. The fieldwork will focus on a single activity carried out by a sample of consumers: shoe buying behaviour. The first set of data is drawn from 11+11 open ended interviews of participants chosen in the two complementary groups of experts and consumers for the purpose of construal identification. The second stream of data relies on an ethnographic approach that involves recording first-person experiences by use of a miniature camera applied at eye-level, or “subcam” (17 participants). The recordings are analysed in order to reconstruct the choice processes through content analysis of events. The third stream of data in the research is produced by means of replay interviews conducted on those same participants who produced the subjective recordings (selection of 12 participants). Using a first-person ethnographic method allowed: (i) A more exact tracking of the actions involved in the choice process versus standard participant observation or in-shop surveillance cameras, (ii) intersubjective post-hoc account of the recorded activity and, (iii) elicitation of reflective rationalization from the participants in narrative form. The material collected at this step underwent a special kind of process analysis involving memory registers. Findings suggest the need to re-rank factors typically considered for choice in consumer behaviour. A fundamental rebalancing of weight must be attributed to habits versus rational evaluation as long-term factor of choice. Equally short-term factors, like emotions and attitudes, acquire distinctive significance in connection with environmental cues that are susceptible to trigger their repetition in future shopping episodes. The contribution to methodology is twofold. The empirical component extends the use of firstperson ethnographic methods to self-reporting of consumer activities in addition to introspective and survey methods. Activity reconstruction led to amending consumer behaviour models by including the influence of social environment found in installation theory.

This thesis explores the heterogeneity of virtual-community members and their activities using the exemplar of a luxury-timepiece community. The research focuses on how networks of diverse members (i.e. consumers, collectors and producers) are maintained in a predominantly virtual-community setting. Whilst existing studies recognise virtual communities as a platform to facilitate communication and interaction between individuals, there has been no detailed exploration of a heterogeneous multi-brand virtual community or how members form communal positions and roles specifically within, a typical hybrid (based online and offline) community. By drawing on pioneering work on complex networks and their development in a business-to-business context from the International Marketing and Purchase (IMP) Group is drawn on and extends IMP frameworks to investigate member interactions, cooperation and conflict between members, and communal positions and roles, all of which influence how effective networks with hybrid communities are maintained. The case selected is an internationally renowned, multi-brand, luxury-watch collector community. The findings are informed by an 18-month ethnographic study that employs immersive research techniques. Through the methods of active participation in online and offline settings, non-participant observation, semi-structured in-depth online and in-person interviews, and compilation of online discussion threads, the study offers a rich and complete understanding of the development and operation of the community, its network and its members. This heterogeneous multi-brand hybrid community comprises of the management and moderating team, luxury-watch collectors and consumers, authorised and independent watch dealers, luxury-watch manufacturers and brands. Members are brought together by a shared commitment to and interest in category-specific luxury brands, an object (luxury watches) and an activity (collecting). The primary contribution of this study is that both cooperation and conflict shape the network in such a hybrid community through the social, economic and informational interactions. Based on the analysis, a paradoxical side of collecting is uncovered as members show in contradictory sets of motives and behaviours. The network of members is shaped by the characteristics of the community, such as the shared emotional connections, communal boundaries and group symbols, and exchange of support. The relevance of these characteristics extends beyond WatchZone to other collector communities. Findings illustrate that a social hierarchy exists, where collections serve an important function to demonstrate mastery and connoisseurship, whilst knowledge and expertise are a source of informal and formal power for members. The findings are relevant to brand managers and more generally marketing practitioners as WatchZone is an ideal venue to develop and nurture relationships with consumers on a more personal level.

The study extracts themes from ten documentary films about disabled poor individuals produced and broadcast in the television documentary series Kon Kon Kon in Thailand during 2007-2011. Recurrent themes are those focusing on individual performance and personal characteristics of resourcefulness, patience and positive attitude. These themes are argued here as demonstrating common themes of human interest stories which aim at agency empowerment or at encouraging self-change in order to gain control over structural constraints or predicaments. Such stories of personal triumphs and struggles are a main feature of media in late modernity. Late modernity is a period when human beings gain a central role and individuals are given autonomy to construct identities when those issued by traditional meta-structures such as religion, nation or gender are competing and none can hold exclusive authority any longer. However, human interest media texts represent part of a late modern contradiction: the belief in the rights of self-assertion yet the inefficient address on structural conditions conducive to the actualisation of such rights. The study then provides a commentary to the human interest stories/films about the disabled poor in Thailand. It outlines the physical and ideational conditions that contribute to poverty and social injustice experienced by a large number of people in Thailand and, in turn, to the resourcefulness and resilience of many of poor people with disabilities, such as those featured in the films. The co-evolving structural conditions relating to economic liberalism since the 1960s, the structures and politics of welfare, and socio-cultural ideologies of self-help and individualism are discussed as weaving positions and relations that the poor with disabilities are situated in. These positions and relations both influence and interact with agency and other intrinsic factors of an individual such as the nature of impairment. Thus a cultural representation of an experience of living with disability should provide an intimation of how intrinsic factors of a person with disability, such as the nature of impairment, aspirations and competence, are to a large degree influenced by and at the same time actively interact with structural forces. The account then can avoid being both overly voluntaristic and fatalistic. The former places insurmountable responsibility on an individual to do well regardless of constraints, while the latter deprives an individual of a capacity to transform or even to be reflexive of any institutionalised social relations. The thesis provides a commentary to the films, hoping to facilitate the viewing of a surface event of a heroic act of a person with disability as neither purely individualistically nor socially determined, but rather as a result of an active interaction between the social structural conditions and agency both in the past and present of her/his life.