This thesis considers how second generation British Asian Muslim males negotiate arranged marriage, religion and leisure, and how this negotiation is a means to achieve a culturally prescribed goal. The culturally prescribed goal will be demonstrated to be the attainment of wealth and the maintenance of family bonds. An ethnographic study of thirty second generation British Asian Muslim males was conducted in order to understand how decisions regarding marriage and leisure are made. The modes of negotiation of marriage, leisure and religion are analysed using Merton’s (1938, 1957) Anomie and Strain theory as well as Murphy and Robinson’s (2008) concept of the maximiser. Empirical research is used to describe and analyse how the maximiser achieves the culturally prescribed goal mentioned above. It is argued that the maximiser uses both legitimate and illegitimate means in order to achieve a culturally prescribed goal. The legitimate means in this study are having an arranged marriage and abiding by rules of Islam and the family. It will be argued that through a process of intense socialisation, the means to achieve the culturally prescribed goal are learnt from childhood for some British Asian Muslims. It will be argued that culture is misrepresented as religion in order to facilitate this process of intense socialisation in some British Muslim communities which creates a pressure to conform. The modes of adaptation to this pressure including the conformist, the innovator, the Ritualist, the Retreatist and the Rebel are explored. The focus of the study is on the maximiser as it is argued that the maximiser reproduces a system of transnational consanguineous arranged marriages. The methods of negotiation are analysed using symbolic interactionist perspectives, namely Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (Goffman 1959) and Delinquency and Drift (Matza 1964). This process of negotiating marriage particularly when considering transnational consanguineous marriages, is referred to as the lifelong Business of Marriage. The Business of Marriage is defined as: a system in which transnational consanguineous marriages are taking place under the following conditions: (1) There is a process of intense socialisation where respect for parents and cultural practices are internalised (2) where British nationality is given to the incoming spouse (3) where financial and social support is given to the British husband. This thesis will demonstrate that British Asian Muslim males who fall under the category of the Maximiser are willing to forgo the opportunity of choosing their own spouses in order to inherit the family wealth and to keep bonds between families strong. It is also demonstrated that when a transnational marriage fails within the period required in order for the transnational wife to apply for a British visa, the British husband will stay legally married to his spouse in order to ensure the attainment of a permanent British visa. Finally, this research explores the future generations and argues that the Business of Arranged Marriage will end with the fourth generation of British Asian Muslim males. It is argued that this is the case because at this time, the first generation of south Asian Muslim immigrants into this country will not be present and the wealth of the families would have been passed on to the next generation. This thesis concludes by recommending further research into British Asian Muslim males and marriage, specifically around the areas of forced and arranged marriage.

Social Capital is considered an important asset for development, both at local and higher levels, and has been explored across the social sciences for decades. Attempts to define and measure it in increasingly precise ways continue in order to place it at the centre of policymaking. Indeed, it is considered a precious capital in times where resources are becoming scarce. This thesis investigates the dimensions of social capital and estimates them at small area level for England and Wales in 2011. The first step is the identification of three factors measuring membership, citizenship and politics and neighbourliness dimensions using survey data and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The second step is to test the hypothesis that other individual characteristics and geographical characteristics may influence levels of these factors. Complex Multilevel models with individual covariates and area-level covariates from the Census and administrative sources confirm the hypothesis: the factors depend on age, gender, ethnicity, religion, marital status, socio-economic class, employment, state of health and education at individual level and ethnic diversity and economic profile at area level. Lastly, Multilevel Model results have been used as a starting point for the final synthetic estimates at small area for all the Middle Super Output Areas of the average levels of the three factors. While Membership and Citizenship and Politics social capital show higher differentials, Neighbourliness seems to be more spread and, on average, higher than the other two factors across the two countries.

Low back pain is a common condition that will affect 80% of the population at some point in their lives. For the majority of people the pain and associated disability will be resolved and they will resume normal activities. For a small proportion of this group however, the condition will remain unresolved with associated long-term pain and disability; this is termed chronic low back pain (CLBP). The costs associated with CLBP are high both physically and emotionally for the individual, and in terms of the economic burden placed on society pertaining to healthcare costs and lost productivity. CLBP is a multifaceted condition. Whilst a biopsychosocial model of care, as opposed to the traditional biomedical model, is advocated as the best approach for its management it has been suggested that the impact on the self-concept and identity of individuals with this condition has not been fully explored or addressed. This study employed a biographical approach with the aim of understanding the impact on the lives and identities of men living with CLBP. Five men were recruited and in-depth interviews were undertaken which were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. The identity of all the participants in the study had been affected by CLBP. Clear themes emerged that included feeling defined by their CLBP, experiencing feelings of frustration and anger, the inability to retain their masculine role, the impact on fatherhood, public and private identities, physicality and feeling a liability or burden to others. The support received from significant others was also highlighted. The participants detailed how exercise and education were major aspects in the management of their condition whilst resilience and the use of humour were also very apparent in their narratives as mechanisms to enable them to cope with CLBP.

Recent years have seen exponential growth of social network sites (SNSs) such as Friendster, MySpace and Facebook. SNSs flatten the real-world social network by making personal information and social structure visible to users outside the ego-centric networks. They provide a new basis of trust and credibility upon the Internet and Web infrastructure for users to communicate and share information. For the vast majority of social networks, it takes only a few clicks to befriend other members. People's dynamic ever-changing real-world connections are translated to static links which, once formed, are permanent -- thus entailing zero maintenance. The existence of static links as public exhibition of private connections causes the problem of friendship inflation, which refers to the online practice that users will usually acquire much more ``friends'' on SNSs than they can actually maintain in the real world. There is mounting evidence both in social science and statistical analysis to support the idea that there has been an inflated number of digital friendship connections on most SNSs. The theory of friendship inflation is also evidenced by our nearly 3-year observation on Facebook users in the University of Southampton. Friendship inflation can devalue the social graph and eventually lead to the decline of a social network site. From Sixdegrees.com to Facebook.com, there have been rise and fall of many social networks. We argue that friendship inflation is one of the main forces driving this move. Despite the gravity of the issue, there is surprisingly little academic research carried out to address the problems. The thesis proposes a novel algorithm, called ActiveLink, to identify meaningful online social connections. The innovation of the algorithm lies in the combination of preferential attachment and assortativity. The algorithm can identify long-range connections which may not be captured by simple reciprocity algorithms. We have tested the key ideas of the algorithms on the data set of 22,553 Facebook users in the network of University of Southampton. To better support the development of SNSs, we discuss an SNS model called RealSpace, a social network architecture based on active links. The system introduces three other algorithms: social connectivity, proximity index and community structure detection. Finally, we look at the problems relating to improving the network model and social network systems.

A major challenge of the 21st century for the health-care professionals is to provide care for the ever-expanding population of people with renal-failure. Patient numbers are rising and specialist nurses, who are the pivotal factor in haemodialysis units, are becoming increasingly scarce. In this context it has become essential to understand the dynamics and functioning of haemodialysis units. The aim of this research project is to increase understanding of the lives of patients and carers by uncovering the culture of haemodialysis units. Ethnography, from the naturalistic paradigm, is a holistic study of culture, developed out of classical philosophy. This study examines the entire social world of the dialysis unit. It describes the ethnographic journey made over twenty-four months' research in two different dialysis units. The participants were amongst patients and carers from these two units. The fieldwork, which facilitated data collection, was based on a participatory process of observation, interviews and participant feedback. These data were analysed into domains and themes using Spradley's Research development sequence (1980) and the reflexive process. Through the theme-based analysis used during the research and writing of this ethnographic study an emergent theory of partnership in care became apparent. Such a theory contributes to our understanding of the culture of the dialysis unit. Uncovering the culture of dialysis units will not prevent the increase in numbers of people needing Renal Replacement Therapy. It does, however, shed light on the condition of living with renal failure and the nature of partnerships developed in the haemodialysis unit. It is these partnerships between people, machines and the environment that sets the dialysis unit apart in the hospital, giving it its own particular culture. Partnership means shared care where patients and carers work towards mutual goals. The realisation of these common goals leads towards the overall objective of better treatment outcomes.

Research on sustainability in higher education has tended to focus on environmental management of university estates and operations, and case studies and examples of good practice, without presenting the coherent theoretical or methodological approaches required to look at the change processes of universities seeking to embed sustainability. Although the value and contribution of university initiatives has been articulated, little holistic and structural transformation of universities has been achieved so far. This doctoral research aimed to examine organisational learning and change processes to build education for sustainability into the university curriculum by developing its theoretical basis, and by developing qualitative methodology. The original contributions to knowledge of this doctoral thesis are the exploration of organisational learning processes towards sustainability in higher education, the exploration of action research as a research method to foster organisational learning towards sustainability, and the development of an evidence-based model on how to embed education for sustainability in the undergraduate curriculum at the University of Southampton. The integration of different theoretical approaches to organisational learning such as organisational learning theory, the idea of expansive learning at work, the learning organisation ideal and transformative learning theory provide the theoretical foundations for this study. Therefore contributing to the understanding of how individuals in organisations can transform their mental models in order to change current practice leading to organisational learning towards sustainability in higher education. At a methodological level, an action research approach guided by participatory and emancipatory approaches was used. The researcher aimed to learn from real practice through acting as a facilitator for curriculum development in education for sustainability within an interdisciplinary group of academic staff members. A critical friend position was acquired within a community of practice to implement a programme which attempted to embed sustainability within the student experience. An evidence-based model (the I3E Model) has been developed with four overarching components that can support the University of Southampton in its aim to embed education for sustainability within the undergraduate curriculum. These integrated components are: Inform the university community about sustainability; Engage the different university stakeholders in the change process towards sustainability; Empower individuals and groups to make change happen within their sphere of influence and action; and Embed sustainability within existing university structures.

This study utilises a biographical approach in order to understand the reported individual health and wellbeing outcomes of the Personal Best Volunteering Training Programme for a group of six people. Only candidates, who were not in education or training or were economically inactive, were eligible for the programme. All students on the Personal Best Volunteering Training Programme have experienced social exclusion either through drug and or alcohol addiction or mental illness. Their spoken biographies were collected in the spring of 2012; some six to twelve months after the participants had completed the course. The participant biographies set the research within a social and chronological context. Work by Marmot (2006) maintains that health outcomes are unequally distributed throughout the population and are influenced by personal autonomy and social participation, while the most vulnerable groups in society are recognised as the hardest to reach in terms of health promotion. This research links the factors which influence health with the recognised benefits of volunteering; which includes enhanced interpersonal skills, increased social networks and the development of personal characteristics (Musick and Wilson 2005). Volunteering research to date has centred on people who already possess extensive personal, social and economic resources. This research demonstrates that socially excluded individuals experience similar benefits. The findings indicate that the participants reported wide-ranging health and wellbeing benefits, enhanced communication and team working skills, the development of employability skills, improved and extended social networks. However the most significant and pervasive benefit of volunteering for this group of individuals was the development of positive self-concept and enhanced self-esteem. A key recommendation of this study is that socially excluded people should not merely be the recipients of volunteer services but have the opportunity to be prepared and actively involved in the delivery of such services. This work suggests that the PBVTP was a success largely because it was specifically designed to meet the needs of people not in education, training or employment and it recommends that volunteering courses should continue to be offered to socially excluded individuals, however to ensure further success, this study endorses the development and provision of a bespoke course explicitly design for these individuals.

Gender inclusivity in games is still exploratory and despite an increase in games and gender research, many challenges remain in designing a more gender-inclusive game. This thesis addresses the problem of how to support gender-inclusivity in games by incorporating theories in games and gender. Existing research in games and gender tend to focus on finding out how each gender plays and their preferences in games. However, there is little evidence that researchers have approached the issue of gender inclusivity in games with the intent of building a cohesive understanding of gender inclusivity in games and the relationships that exist between the different dimensions and components. Consequently, the aim of this research is to develop a conceptual framework that can support gender inclusivity in games. A central contribution of this research is the development of a Gender Inclusivity Framework (GIF) to support an integrative approach to understanding and evaluating gender inclusivity in games. The proposed framework aimed to understand the makeup of gender-inclusivity in games and measure the level of gender-inclusiveness in games. Drawing upon established theories and prior research findings, the proposed framework suggests that gender inclusivity in games can be determined by 3 dimensions: (1) gameplay, which relates to game behaviours; (2) content, which relates to aesthetics elements of a game and; (3) genre, which relates to types of games. Each dimension in the framework is divided into individual components that can be modified or further investigated in future studies. Each component in combination describes the dimension in terms that can be measured and evaluated in empirical studies. Hence, the combination of dimensions and components used to construct the framework provide the description of gender-inclusivity in games, which in turn is expected to predict the degree of gender-inclusiveness in games. An example of GIF application was demonstrated through the development of a novel measuring instrument called Gender Inclusivity Rating Scale (GIRS) and through a series of experiments, the measuring instrument was validated and used in a research scenario to investigate the differences in gender inclusivity in games’ components between a gamer’s gender role orientations. This thesis presents a detailed discussion of the GIF development, validation and application. For researchers, GIF provides a common framework in which to conceptualize their research and make it easier to see how individual variables fit into the larger picture. For game designers, GIF enables deconstruction of the concept of gender inclusivity in games into smaller, conceptually distinct and manageable component to guide the design of gender inclusivity in games.

Anaemia is a worldwide public health concern. Anaemia is multifactorial and its related factors are classified according to their position in the pathophysiological process. Socioeconomic and demographic factors such as poor education, cultural norms such as food taboos can predispose children and women to anaemia through immediate causes such as physiological, biological, diet and infections. However, socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with anaemia are not widely reported and it is difficult to find published literature on this subject, which could be due to the lack of data. The objective of this research is to provide an understanding of socioeconomic and demographic factors related with anaemia among children and women and the links between anaemia during childhood and child nutritional status which can be used as a basis for policy formulation, planning and implementation. Almost three quarters of children and half of women in DRC (2007), Uganda (2006) and Malawi (2004) are anaemic. Multilevel ordinal regression models were fitted for anaemia among children and multilevel logistic regression models for anaemia among women. The models showed variations in anaemia prevalence within the countries at the community level. However, country level interactions indicate that there are no significant differences in the risk of anaemia in children and women between these countries. Endogenous switching regression models were fitted to the data to explore the link between anaemia and child’s health outcomes. Anaemia is endogenous to children’s nutritional status (weight-for-age z-scores) which should be accounted for. The prevalence of anaemia is high in DRC (71%), Uganda (74%) and Malawi (73%) and anaemia is a severe public health problem in the three countries. Although it will take considerable time for the three countries to control anaemia, it is not an impossible task. By improving nutrition and iron status, and treating helminth and malaria infections, the prevalence of anaemia can decrease as observed in Malawi in 2010. More effort is needed to identify the pathways through which anaemia within each country may be addressed.

Issues of ‘wellbeing’ and ‘happiness’ are becoming more and more prevalent in discussions of social policy and in the provision of healthcare services. In recent years, the maximisation of a nation’s ‘happiness’ has emerged as both a key policy objective and as a central focus within social, political and economic research, with public policy makers around the world having demonstrated a growing interest in national accounts of ‘wellbeing’. In the UK context, this growing interest is comprised of a perceived need to ‘know’ ‘happiness’ and ‘wellbeing’ better, so that they might be maximised. Such attitudes and beliefs made possible the introduction of four new questions to the Annual Population Survey that were specifically designed to measure the UK’s “subjective wellbeing” (now referred to as “individual life satisfaction” following revisions in subsequent years). In addition to this, in 2010 a non-profit organisation named Action for Happiness (AfH) was founded which sought to maximise the ‘happiness’ of society by offering individual members help and training towards living a ‘happier’ life - an endeavour which is understood to be necessitated by the stagnation of ‘happiness’ in modern Western societies. This thesis seeks to critically account for the emergence of such social and political practices – or ‘happiness agenda’ - and does so from a poststructuralist, post-Marxist standpoint. This is achieved by utilising the specific methodological strategy developed by Glynos & Howarth (2007) which constitutes a retroductive, deconstructive, approach to accounting for socio-political phenomena. In doing so, three types of logics underpinning these practices are identified, presenting an explanation as to what, how and why these practices are. Accounting for the emergence of such a ‘happiness agenda’ enables it (and its emergence) to be critiqued – specifically, the notion contained within it that maximised individual ‘happiness’ constitutes social progression. Indeed, central to the critique of the ‘happiness agenda’ that this thesis presents is an acknowledgement of the need of a socio-political equality agenda, where ‘social progression’ is instead conceptualised as maximised social equality.