The primary intention of this thesis is to explore theories and practices of power. To that end, the analysis first pays close and critical attention to a number of theories of power, and employs the empirical example of the police organization as a means through which to explore the strengths and weaknesses of these different theoretical perspectives. These themes are examined in a number of ways: firstly, by setting out and exploring different sociological and organizational theories of power; secondly, by considering a range of powerrelated practices (management practices, hierarchical practices, and gender related power practices) in light of theoretical approaches to power; and thirdly, by seeking to push forward theories of power in light of the (theoretically informed) empirical analysis. The empirical analysis is based on semi-structured interviews and non-participant observation of officers in one Constabulary. This thesis brings to the police literature a critical perspective on organizations that has been largely lacking to date. The analysis aims to extend the terms of debate about the theory and practice of power in some measure in light of its focus on how power operates in cultural practices, organizational practices, and notions of subjectivity and identity management. This thesis draws first on the power-related work of Max Weber, and associated critiques, for a greater understanding of the assumptions and limitations of bureaucracy, appropriate to a study of power in the quasi-militaristic bureaucratic police organization. The thesis also draws on the power-related approach of Michel Foucault, and related critiques. The analysis engages critically with the power/knowledge concept, and related questions of resistance and agency. Considerations of epistemological and ontological constraints inform the whole analysis, with regard to theories of power, methodology, and in explorations of power-related theory in light of empirical data. This thesis argues that power informs what is often described as the intransigence of police culture, and that power is reflected in, and as a consequence of, organizational structures, managerial practices, and officers' concerns with subjectivity. Accordingly, the underlying assumptions of this thesis are that: 1) in order to understand many seemingly intransigent practices within the police force it is necessary to explore the analytical significance of power as expressed in structure, discourse and practices, and; 2) that identities are negotiated in a complex environment in which success and status are informed and defined largely by a history of white, male practices. The research places questions of power inequalities at the centre of much of the analysis, in particular gender inequalities. The analysis also engages with current debates in organizational theory about power and resistance and seeks to extend the ways in which resistance is theorized and researched empirically. The analysis therefore considers officers' 'interactions with, and responses to' a range of organizational practices, in order to engage critically with the powerrelated implications of everyday practices in the police, and, to push forward the ways in which workplace resistance (and compliance) are theorized. This thesis shows some of the ways in which assessment practices in the police organization exacerbate and shape concerns with subjectivity as often expressed in attempts to protect aspects of identity, or in the privileging of some aspects of identity in this very public, and male dominated, workplace. A central contention of the present work: that many theories of power, including those associated with Weber and Foucault, do not adequately incorporate the influence and role of identity and subjectivity in the shaping of power practices.

Based on ethnographic research, involving observations, participant observation and in-depth interviews, this thesis explores the impact of crime and the influences on informal social control in an affluent, middle class suburb. The research focused on the interaction between estate design, the environment, social and community life, and fear of crime, and their effects on residents in the neighbourhood. Despite low recorded crime rates, crime was perceived to be a problem. This situation arose from a paradox of community dynamics which, on the one hand, increased fear of crime, but on the other, contained crime. Apart from small-scale and extremely localised solidarities, a socially fragmented community existed in which limited and loose-knit local social networks, strong desires for privacy, and atomisation prevailed. These factors, coupled with busy lifestyles and features of the suburban environment, resulted in isolation and enhanced fear of crime. However, fear arose more from concerns about crime in wider society together with general anxieties rooted in change in late-modernity, than actual risk of victimisation. Crime control was rarely based on conm-iunity action, instead being individualistic and reliant on sophisticated target hardening. Low crime, therefore, was less attributable to the pursuits of 'active citizens' envisaged by community crime prevention policies and more to structural processes of affluence, status and property ownership which created an exclusive and exclusionary community of vested interest, common identity and shared values. As a study of affluent suburban life, the research contributes to the community studies tradition. However, the main importance of the research is its implications for community crime prevention. By highlighting the complex and contextual nature of informal social control and the influences which impact on it, the necessity to tailor crime prevention more to local needs is emphasised.

This thesis examines the social psychological significance of 'community', as it is experienced and talked about in Brixton, a culturally diverse area in South London. There are two points of entry into the social psychology of a community: (1) the negotiation of social representations of the community and (2) the co-construction of community identities. The theoretical perspective that I have developed through this research is grounded in the theory of social representations (Moscovici, 1984, 1988; Farr, 1987) and draws on other theories of representation (Hall, 1997a), community (Cohen, 995), identity and self-consciousness (Hall, 1991a; Tajfel, 1982; Mead, 1934), stigma (Goffman, 1968) and the media (Thompson, 1995). It is an ethnographic study which combines ongoing participant-observation, 7 focus groups with 44 adolescents aged between 12 and 16, 5 in-depth interviews with deputy-heads of Brixton's schools, a media analysis of a documentary set in Brixton, and follow-up discussions. These accounts are woven together to answer the principal research question: how is `community' lived in Brixton? This study shows that communities emerge as sites of struggle in the negotiation of self-identity, belonging and difference. Community identities are constructed through and against social representations of the community, particularly those in the media. Two competing representations of Brixton - 'Brixton as Diverse' and 'Brixton as Bad' — were found in the same representational field. The data illustrate the different ways in which people affirm, manipulate and contest these ambivalent social representations in order to defend their perspective on Brixton, and so either claim or reject community membership. I examine how these representations both reflect and construct the social reality of Brixton. This reveals the potential of social representations to construct, delimit and empower the living of community. The systematic analysis of social representations of community and community identities demonstrates the pressing need for a social psychology of community.

In this thesis, the work of Serge Moscovici on the human history of nature is made relevant to his theory of social representations. This theoretical synthesis breaks away both from the realist assumption of a given, immutable and non-socialised nature, and from the individualist conceptualisations of man-environment relations which still dominate environmental, ecological and social psychology. It is argued that social representations are not solely the concern of epistemology; they have ontological correlates and are involved in the social construction on nature. The empirical study investigates how social representations of nature functioned in Shetland - a society which combines traditional and late modern features - in the wake of the Braer oil spill in January 1993. The findings are based on the qualitative analysis of 17 individual interviews, five small group discussions, 375 articles from the newspaper The Shetland Times, the transcript of a public debate on the Cost of the Braer for Shetland and, more generally, participant observation. The analysis reveals the synchronic existence of three distinct, yet interrelated, social representations of nature: organic, mechanistic and cybernetic. Each of them is intrinsically related to a particular sense of identity, mode of knowledge, and mode of relations to nature. "Real Shetlanders" hold predominantly organic representations, whereby nature constitutes a repository of their history, a definer of their identity as a marginal but resilient community. It is known through direct engagement and participation in a life world. By contrast, "Sooth-Moothers" (outsiders) hold mechanistic and/or cybernetic representations which rest upon some universal, abstract knowledge of the systemic properties of "the environment". Their relations to nature oscillate between domination, mastery and protection. However, the imperatives facing the community, together with constant exchanges of information via the media, blur the boundaries between representations.

THE TELEVISION MESSAGE AS SOCIAL OBJECT: A comparative study of the structure and content of television programmes in Britain (excluding public affairs, children's television and shorts). The thesis will be both a theoretical and empirical examination of the applicability of the varieties of analysis of symbolic orders which have been advanced by such writers as Levi-Strauss and Foucault. The thesis is an exploration, through the study of the narrative structure of a series of television drama programmes, of the relationship between television, myths and folktales. Following upon work done principally by Claude Levi-Strauss and Vladimir Propp, but also others writing in the field of semiological and structural analysis, a detailed examination of the video-recorded texts of a thirteen part drama series is presented. It is argued in the context of an examination of, respectively, television and language, television and the mythic, and of the nature of narrative, that the television drama preserves the forms which otherwise might be thought of as particular to oral culture and communication. Television, in its preservation of these forms, and in its generally mythic character, gains its effectiveness thereby and must be understood sociologically in such terns. The effect of such an understanding, it is argued, will be to challenge any comprehension of the medium simply as the particular product of a particular historical period and/or an imposition in culture of one world view on an other. The television message is both a collective product and a transhistorical one. It is argued that on both counts it needs to be understood as a genuine expression of a social need, though in its expression of that need it does not necessarily simply act to preserve existing social and cultural conditions.

This thesis explores how a disadvantaged context impacts on secondary school organisation and processes, and how this affects quality, as measured by OFSTED inspection. OFSTED data indicates a school quality problem in disadvantaged areas. This is often interpreted as arising from factors internal to the school. Policy interventions have concentrated on generic school improvement measures. However, it may be argued that if poor quality arises from context as well as from internal factors, policy responses should also be contextualised. Earlier work (Gewirtz 1998; Thrupp 1999) has begun to reveal process effects of disadvantaged contexts. This thesis builds on that work by exploring differences between disadvantaged areas, making an explicit link to quality measures, and using wider literatures from the fields of neighbourhood studies and organisation theory to develop an understanding of schools as contextualised organisations. The thesis begins with a quantitative analysis of context/quality relationships, but is principally based on four qualitative case studies. These consider context objectively, analysing socio-economic, market and institutional factors, and also explore staff’s subjective interpretations. Process implications for schools are examined, as are the schools’ responses, in terms of the design and delivery of schooling. These findings are discussed in relation to OFSTED quality measures. The research reveals that the quality problem in poor areas is partly an artefact of the inspection system but also reflects contextual effects. It also finds that there are significant differences between the contexts of schools in disadvantaged areas, and that these are not captured by typical context measures. The study concludes that changes are needed in school funding and inspection to recognise contextual effects, and that specific practices need to be developed to enable school improvement in poor areas. Relying on schools to apply generic ‘good practice’ within existing constraints will not be sufficient to eliminate the quality problem.

The thesis consists of three studies on various ways in which society reacts to juvenile delinquency. It is introduced with an account of recent developments in the sociology of deviance which have drawn attention to the nature and effect of the societal reaction to deviance. These developments, termed the "transactional perspective", are put in the context of a "sceptical" reaction against more conventional ways of conceptualizing deviance. The implications of this new perspective for theory and research are indicated. The first study is on vandalism, and starts by attempting to unravel the different definitions of this behaviour as a form of rule-breaking and deviance. It goes on to consider the processes through which vandalism becomes defined as a social problem and then discusses the main images and stereotypes through which society tries to conceptualize this form of delinquency. It finally considers the organized approaches to the prevention and control of vandalism. The second study is a survey of the views about delinquency - its nature, causes and control - and allied topics, held by a selected sample of official and unofficial control agents in a London Borough "Northview". The relevance of these views to understanding the social control of delinquency is considered. The final study is of various types of response to the Mods and Rockers phenomenon. Using mass media and observational sources, an analysis is made of how this form of deviance was reported and conceptualized. The emergent images of the behaviour are related to the ways in which society attempted to control it. The effects of these reactions on the form and development of the phenomenon are suggested.

Background: Despite its status within internationally agreed psychiatric systems, the extent to which the behavioural symptoms of Conduct Disorder are indicative of mental disorder is debatable. The aim of this thesis is to assess the extent to which the collection of behaviours currently defined as Conduct Disorder might be better understood within a sociological framework. Methods: In-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out to explore young people’s perspectives on behaving badly. Most of the participants interviewed met DSM-IV criteria for Conduct Disorder, which was identified on the basis of Voice-DISC profiles at two earlier phases of the West of Scotland 11-16/16+ study (West, Sweeting, Der et al., 2003). Findings. The findings highlighted that behaving badly was generally perceived as normative, purposive and adaptive, therefore reflecting more sociological interpretations of behaving badly. Two participants appeared to link their behaviour to mental distress, which provided limited support for the view that some forms of antisocial behaviour might be indicative of mental disorder. Since young people often depicted behaving badly as adaptive and purposive, the findings suggested that epidemiological research may be neglecting the positive functions of antisocial behaviour for young people. Implications. An in-depth exploration of young people’s accounts led to the conclusion that the current diagnostic criteria for Conduct Disorder are over-inclusive. Four amendments to the criteria were proposed which might help to distinguish between individuals with disorderly conduct and those with Conduct Disorder before the publication of DSM-V and ICD-11

This thesis aims to investigate the way in which anarchism - both as a means of theoretical political dissent as well as a practical tool of shock - was transformed from the `chaotic' intent of first wave punk towards a more informed political ideology in the emerging `anarcho-punk' scene of the 1980s. In particular, I wish to explore the way in which ideas surrounding `anarcho' and `punk' were fused together so as to provide a space where individuals could develop a more `informed lifestyle' in expressing a subversive distaste towards corporate forms of oppression such as multinationals, governments and the police. Chapter one will provide an overview of punk within a wider history of political and philosophical dissent, exploring ideas that link it to a continuing thread of agitation akin to groups such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Situationism. This debate will be further explored in chapter two. With particular attention to the music of the Sex Pistols, I wish to explore the extent to which the break down of the post-war consensus, and the resultant economic crisis in Britain in the 1970s, nurtured a social, political and musical environment for first wave punk to flourish. The anarcho-punk scene proper is introduced in the main body of this work. Here, I will turn primarily to the way in which the musical characteristics of the anarchopunk movement encompass the twin ideals of `punk' and `anarchism' so as to provide a new form of organised dissent towards a capitalist system seen to embody oppression and uniformity. In particular, I wish to explore the extent to which the practical realities of applying a complex political system such as anarchism had repercussions on the transformation of the British punk scene as a whole.

This study is a mixed-method analysis of church participation as a direct intercultural encounter in the experiences of non-Christian Chinese international students in the UK. Its setting in a religious context makes the whole research unique among research on the topic of international students’ cross-cultural experience. The study aims to address the overarching research question: What is the role of Christian churches in the intercultural experiences of Chinese international students in the UK? There are five sub-questions further developed from both student and church perspectives to comprehensively explore the main issue: 1) Why do non-Christian Chinese students choose to go to churches after they arrive in the UK? 2) Do Christian churches serve as a medium of intercultural encounter for Chinese international students? 3) What is the institutional motivation of the Christian community for attracting international students, especially Chinese students? 4) What are the Christian churches’ strategies in working with Chinese international students? 5) What is more important for students, religious or intercultural experience? The study employs survey, semi-structured in-depth interviews, participant observation, and document analysis as research methods to provide an analysis on international students’ church experiences. In the context of the non-Christian Chinese students’ international mobility and Christianity in China and UK, it investigates the intentions behind and purposes of the intercultural engagement between churches and students. What underpins the interaction between Chinese students and the international Christian community is the interplay between educational, religious, socio-cultural, and psychological factors. The study also presents the western culture, Christianity, as well as the cultural/religious background of Chinese students, and highlights Christian ambitions and missionary strategies (working model) towards non-Christian international students. The findings indicate that social connections with the host environment and the nature of organisation play a significant role in the cross-cultural adaptation and individual development of international students. Besides offering an explanation for the mechanism behind the students’ church participation, the findings also demonstrate that it is Christian churches, rather than universities in the experience of Chinese international students in the UK to facilitate intercultural encounters. The study recommends that universities be encouraged to undertake relevant interventions to facilitate meaningful intercultural engagement among students in the multicultural campus environment.