This study concerns the examination of women managers' identities in Singapore and Britain, against a context of global, national and corporate change. Identities are multiple, shifting and ambivalent. They are ascribed through structures and cultures, but also subject to negotiation through women's agency. The thesis places empirical analysis of women managers' career stories within the context of social change and social theory on the nature of identity. The study explores how Singaporean and British women managers have discursively responded to wider change processes. 23 women managers in the financial sector in Singapore and Britain were interviewed for this purpose. In the advanced market economies, dual career families have increasingly contracted out household work. Coupled with a consumer led society these changes have weakened the family. Furthermore, women managers, like their male counterparts have increasingly been constructed as individualised unencumbered workers. Despite these wider global changes, Part I of the thesis concludes that women managers continue to be constructed in organisations and in nation states as gendered subjects, as wives and mothers, as sexualised, as embodied and emotional. Despite these similar gendered constructions for women, women managers are not responding in the same ways in both countries. Part II presents the analysis of the interviews and shows that government policies, histories and cultural discourses still largely influence the ways in which women's identities are constrained and constructed. Gender regimes in financial corporations in Singapore and Britain are differently constituted. Family identities as wives and mothers are experienced and voiced differently by women managers in Singapore and Britain. Different processes of individualization have differential effects on women managers in the two gender regimes. The implications of these findings for gender relations are explored in the conclusions.

Within the last few years, disabled people have become the target of government austerity measures through drastic cuts to welfare justified through the portrayal of benefit claimants as inactive, problem citizens who are wilfully unemployed. For all that is wrong with these cuts, they are one of many aspects of exclusion that disabled people face. Attitudes towards disability are deteriorating (Scope, 2011) and disabled people are devalued and negatively positioned in a myriad of ways, meaning that an understanding of the perceptions and positioning of disability and the power of disabling practices is critical. This thesis will examine how Bourdieu’s theoretical repertoire may be applied to the area of Disability Studies in order to discern how society produces oppressive and exclusionary systems of classification which structures the social position and perceptions of disability. The composite nature of disability and multiple forms of exclusion and inequality associated with it benefits from a multipronged approach which acknowledges personal, embodied and psychological aspects of disability alongside socio-political and cultural conceptualisations. Bourdieu’s approach is one in which the micro and macro aspects of social life are brought together through their meso interplay and provides a thorough analysis of the many aspects of disability.

This work represents an interdisciplinary attempt at the development of a-- scientific theory of norms and normativity. Normativity, understood in its most general interpretation as value determinations and prescriptions, has traditionally been troublesome to account by science and difficult to “place” within a scientific worldview. Such an accomplishment is attempted by the joining in conversation of two bodies of literature. The first of these is Steve Fuller’s naturalist epistemology and the second corresponds to the situated study of cognition, along with the epistemologies that have resulted from their findings. These two bodies of literature constitute the most radically naturalist attempts at developing a viable frame of epistemological and/or normative reference within their respective fields.

This thesis investigates theatregoing and class, using as a locus the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. The Royal Court is unusually successful in attracting and retaining first time theatregoers and others from some of the most deprived postcodes in the UK. The study’s original contribution to knowledge is threefold: its focus on the relationship between theatre and audience that encompasses the whole theatregoing event; its focus on theatre audiences and social class; and its use of Bourdieu’s conceptual triad not only as an underpinning theory and a framework, but also as a method. The findings have important implications for cultural policy, which has been over reliant on ticket pricing as a mechanism which has failed to widen cultural attendance. The thesis uses a single case to examine the phenomenon of theatregoing. The primary method of investigation is a series of field visits of a theatre season and subsequent thick description of observations. This is supported by ethnographic methods in order to understand phenomena from the perspective of audience members; these are focus groups, interviews, and an analysis of user generated content (TripAdvisor). The thesis finds that the history of the Royal Court Theatre has not only shaped its position in the field, but is key to its perception by audiences today, the building having a particular place in the imaginary of a working class culture. Inside the auditorium, innovative seating arrangements contribute to a playful social space that can be ‘owned’ by audiences. The Theatre’s repertoire is distinctive, in that it employs tropes, such as comedy and participation, that are bound up with the concept of ‘Scouse’, itself a classed construct. These elements combine to form a physical and social space that is congruent to a working class habitus. The implications of the findings are in two fields, sociology and cultural policy. From a sociological perspective, the thesis concludes that Bourdieu’s conceptual triad is not only useful as a concept but also as a method by which to understand theatregoing and other phenomena in the twenty-first century. The application of Bourdieu’s conceptual triad to the empirical phenomenon of twenty-first century British theatregoing results in a more nuanced understanding of a working class aesthetic and working class values. For cultural policy, the thesis finds that using pricing as a mechanism to widen cultural attendance is to miss the point of the real issues facing working class people in the theatre which are around symbolic violence. If we really wish to widen theatre attendance, we need to offer working class people a theatre model that speaks to their values.

This thesis has been concerned with how everyday social interactions facilitate personal change in the lives of therapeutic community (TC) client members. TCs are planned social environments that aim to provide a safe setting whereby troubling relational patterns can be explored through confronting past trauma and dysfunctional interpersonal dynamics. All aspects of community life, particularly everyday social encounters, such as smoking breaks and meal times, are potentially therapeutic. Whilst there are have been numerous studies focusing on treatment effectiveness and clinical outcomes, there have been relatively few studies that explore how interactions during these potentially therapeutic informal periods facilitate personal change. Thus, everyday social encounters are not only underrepresented in the literature in terms of mechanisms of personal change, they remain poorly understood in practice. Therefore, this research specifically investigates how everyday interactions support personal change by: examining the mechanisms of interaction rituals outside of structured therapy; questioning the function of peer-to-peer interactions; exploring how social interactions reflect TC values; studying the influence of power and social control that may exist; and looking to understand client members’ definitions of change. The study used a narrative ethnographic approach within two adult-democratic TCs, one residential and one a day community, for individuals with a diagnosis of personality disorder. Specific methods of data collection included over 700-hours of participant observation, in-depth interviews with clients and staff members and document analysis. Drawing on Interaction Ritual (IR) theory, this study explores the role of emotions, feelings of inclusion and how power is used during everyday interactions. One of the key findings is that transforming negative emotions into positive long-term feeling occurs through the process of inclusion and solidarity. Crucially, community members will tolerate high levels of negative emotions if they feel included in the TC. Both communities had an overall rhythm to community life that provided the emotional tone and pace of each day. Importantly, solidarity and emotional rhythmic entrainment, the process by which individuals become in synch with one another, were crucial for establishing and maintaining inclusion and producing positive change outcomes. Where solidarity and entrainment are broken, communities will invoke restoration rituals to establish connection with the entire community in order continue working towards positive change. Additionally, interaction rituals highlight dynamics of power, authority, and social control within communities, particularly between client members. Several clients reported increased feelings of confidence and tolerance towards themselves and others as a result of participating in community life. There are two main contributions of this research for IR theory and TCs. Firstly, IR theory has not been applied widely to the field of mental health. The thesis suggests clarifying the use of emotions to include an analysis of how negative emotions are sustained in successful interaction rituals. Secondly, for TCs, this research highlights the significance of times spent outside of structured therapy. Exploring personal transformations through the lens of interactions, rather than individuals, provides a multi-layered explanation of how change occurs.

The study examines the theory and practice of social marketing and aims to identify key criteria that are linked to the successful outcome of social marketing campaigns. The premise underpinning the thesis is that although theory and the definition of social marketing are still being discussed, the practice is expanding rapidly around the world, with many campaigns being launched in attempts to tackle a whole range of issues. There is therefore a need to understand the efficacy of the use of benchmarks and marketing strategies employed during campaigns and to consider how these are linked to success. In order to identify and evaluate success and the various relationships with these core variables, the study utilizes a mixed method analysis of a sample of global social marketing campaign case studies from both statutory and non-statutory organizations. The research was undertaken in two stages: stage one was a qualitative survey of twelve campaigns that identified key benchmarks and strategies; stage two was a quantitative survey of one hundred case campaigns which sought to statistically assess the importance of the benchmarks and strategies. The study identified key benchmarks and strategies that could help to develop more efficient campaigns in a climate of time and budgetary constraints. The study provides one of the first frameworks for developing future campaigns and for assessing those already undertaken. However, only a small number of benchmarks were found to be significant and no specific strategies were found to be statistically significant with regard to success. The main limitation of the study was relatively small sample size and future research should attempt to evaluate a larger sample so that a more robust statistical analysis can be undertaken. The original contribution to knowledge that this research has generated lies in the identification of a framework for social marketing campaign design. This research presents a significant step forward in understanding the essential components of successful social marketing campaigns and identifying benchmarks that are important for success.

This thesis details an empirical exploration of disabled peoples’ lived experiences of sexual and intimate life. Disabled people are predominantly desexualised and degendered and within ableist cultures; they are also, as Brown (1994: 125) states, assigned paradoxical social categories of ‘asexual, oversexed, innocents, or perverts’. Thus, this thesis begins from the position that disabled peoples’ access to and experiences of sexual life occur in the context of these dominant ableist constructions of disabled sexualities, and that the reclamation or formation of a sexual self requires resistance to, or strategic management and negotiation of such constructions. The research methodology worked to the central tenets of consultation, accessibility, empowerment and relevance. A Research Advisory Group made up of local disabled people was established, the purpose of which was to guide the research process, offer expert knowledge, and ensure that the research was accessible, engaging and empowering for the individuals who took part. Through a thematic analysis of the sexual stories told by twenty-five disabled people (and one non-disabled partner), in their own words and on their own terms, this thesis details the complex and variegated relationships between disability, impairment, sexuality, and gender. Findings show that heteronormative discourse had very complicated and contradictory implications for disabled men and women, but also empowered disabled men relative to disabled women. Moreover, analysis has illustrated the ‘complex invisible “work” performed by disabled people’ (Church et al 2007: 1) through participants regularly taking on the roles of teacher, negotiator, manager, mediator, performer, educator, and resistor within a variety of spaces in their sexual and intimate lives. While this work was evidence of sexual agency, the majority of participants’ labours were rooted in the oppressive and inherent inequalities of ableist culture. Furthermore, the majority of participants experienced extensive psycho-emotional disablism – ‘the socially engendered undermining of psychoemotional wellbeing’ (Thomas, 1999: 60) – as routine within their sexual and intimate lives.

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