This study employs a sociocultural lens to explore differential academic achievement at the institution, classroom and individual plane of analysis within an ‘underachieving’ locale in Wales. Sociocultural approaches to learning view cognitive processes as being embedded within social events and mediated by cultural activity, best understood in its historical context. This study investigates why some children succeed academically in school and others do not in an underachieving locale. Attention is paid to the context of the school, the classroom and individuals’ understanding of tasks. The sample comprises 213 children from four schools, specifically chosen to represent higher achieving and lower achieving institutions, with eight classes across two year groups (Year 6 and Year 2). Within each classroom ‘central’ and ‘peripheral’ learners were identified. Multiple methods, including standardised national SATs assessments, questionnaires, interviews and specifically designed research instruments were used to investigate children’s academic performance and their broader social and cultural views and experiences of learning. Findings suggest that classroom culture influences pupils’ motivation to learn and their potential educational achievement. In comparison to ‘peripheral’ learners, the children identified as ‘central’ participants were able to identify problems according to school-related abstract concepts. Schools and teachers can indeed make a difference.

This thesis investigates the development of regional agri-food systems and their supply chains to understand how they affect the sustainability of rural regions. It argues that the existing dichotomies of alternative-local and conventional-global do not provide a sufficiently nuanced understanding of the dynamic transitions and interactions that occur in regional agri-food systems. Deploying and extending socio-technological systems theory, the thesis explores the interaction between nested levels of sectoral and general agri-food regimes and reconstructs the emerging logics of interaction. Against this background, it analyses how alternative agri-food supply chain innovations evolve and assesses their various degrees of success. The meat, dairy and horticultural sectors in SW Wales are investigated as case studies, using a mixed methodological approach combining secondary data analysis and interviews with key stakeholders and supply chain actors. The research finds three sub-sectoral systems with highly differentiated socio-technological configurations and equally diversely configured niches. Using the socio- technological systems framework the: socio-technological configuration, degree of system stability and the future transitional pathways of the each sub-sectoral system is examined. This framework also creates the basis for an assessment of how likely their innovations are to be adopted or absorbed by the conventional agri-food system in SW Wales. The thesis finds that meaningful interactions occur not only within each sub-sector and betweentheir niches but also between sub-sectoral systems. The thesis ultimately provides a nuanced analysis of SW Wales’ agri-food systems that shows the complexity of regional food systems and critiques possible sustainable responses from public policy. It demonstrates that a socio-technical regime perspective can uncover the manifold relations between local and regional agri-food innovations and the dominant, multi-layered agri-food system. This constitutes a major empirical and conceptual contribution to the debates on sustainable food and rural development.

This thesis studies processes of cultural mediation and the role of digital media within them. It is based on the experiences of a group of cultural mediators within a particular music scene in contemporary Chile, and focuses on actors’ meaningful repertoires of action, their material arrangements and their relation with information and communication technologies (ICTs). ‘Mediation’ in a broader sense means processes through which human and non-human agencies produce and shape meanings, attaching them to various cultural flows such as information, images, and identities. As cultural mediators, actors define the music scene, curating and circulating through digital media various flows which they deem worthy of being considered by audiences, and distinguishing themselves across different fields. The thesis is based on nine months of fieldwork (2011) in Santiago, following the everyday practices of the creators of eight music websites through which global and local cultural flows are mediated, organised, and circulated. It analyses how various technological devices facilitate individuals’ construction of networks where cultural flows circulate, and through which their uses of taste are displayed and objectified. It proposes the concept of ‘digital capital’ as an assemblage of actors, practices, objects, and meanings, which is convertible into other types of capital (e.g. economic) and exchangeable in various fields. It is a mode of practice and expertise through which, using digital technologies, individuals create networks where cultural flows circulate. Through the making of websites, music fans become cultural mediators, developing their digital capital as cultural and technical expertise. This expertise is convertible into economic capital and positionality across different fields, especially the field of advertising. Digital capital can be summarised in the question: ‘what are the connections and associations between technical knowledge, cultural flows, and social position, as well as conversions of capital, behind someone who is using Twitter or Facebook, or making a website about a music scene?’ Against this backdrop, it is explored how actors produce and perform ‘cultures of mediation’, commoditising culture as consumption goods.

During the prelude to the Cold War a substantial section of the British press gave a noticeably cool response to the new line towards Soviet Russia proposed first by Churchill at Fulton from Opposition and pursued subsequently at the policy-making level by Ernest Bevin and the Foreign Office. These newspapers looked in particular with sympathy upon the security aspirations of the Soviet Union in eastern Europe and were not therefore predisposed to see in unilateral Soviet moves in that region conclusive evidence of a sinister overall design on the part of the Soviet Union for continental mastery. What is most remarkable about this understanding attitude towards Soviet moves in eastern Europe is that it extended beyond the progressive press (defined for our purposes as the Labour and Liberal press) to include leading elements in the Conservative press. For important sections of that press signally failed to respond with appropriate enthusiasm in a partisan manner to the foreign policy lead offered by the Conservative leader at Fulton. These same newspapers had disagreed with Churchill's foreign policy views in the thirties, supporting the appeasement of Germany when he had opposed it. In the nineteen forties their natural inclination again would be to support policies of conciliation and accommodation in international affairs, this time in regard to Soviet Russia, at a time when the Conservative leader was himself urging a policy of firmness in confronting the soviet danger and had given at Fulton a deliberate warning against those who advocated a policy of `appeasement' with regard to Russia. This thesis attempts to trace the background to the development of such sympathetic press attitudes towards the Soviet Union during the prelude to the Cold War. It attempts to analyse the content and the range of press coverage of Anglo-Soviet relations in the period before the Cold War had crystallized, with an eye in particular to identifying those lessons drawn by the press and offered to the policy-makers as to how in future British policy towards Russia might most wisely be conducted.(DX89814)

Background: No exact and reliable data exists on the characteristics and needs of people with mental health problems in England living in specialist housing services (SHSs). Aims: To describe the cohort of service users’ with mental illness aged 18 to 65 living in various types of SHSs (care homes, supported housing, and Shared Lives schemes) as well as their housing satisfaction, taking into account their social inclusion, and social networks. Pathways into SHSs were accounted for: delayed discharge, referrals and move-on accommodation where applicable. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted - using interview schedules designed for the purpose of this study - with 86 service users and 40 managers of SHSs within 7 areas of England. Analysis: Based on a mixed-methods approach: each interview was coded and string variables were turned into quantifiable ones; anonymised quotes from service users and managers were included in the body of the text. Main analysis is quantitative, with a secondary qualitative study, using framework analysis. Results: Differing support levels influenced service users’ experiences and pathways into SHSs, as well as the outlooks of managers. Analyses revealed several aspects mediating housing satisfaction. Many service users were not very well integrated in the community although managers held different views. Some service users were very much reliant on staff and had small social networks. Discrimination was still persistent and recent policy initiatives, in terms of funding, housing, benefits and employment held a negative impact. Preferences of service users were for the most part not taken into account. Conclusions: Further research is needed with regard to BME groups as well as other SHSs settings like Shared Lives schemes. Data should be more systematically collected and in more detail and barriers to employment should be tackled. Better advocacy and information for service users should be established.

This research is based on a comparative study between East and West Amman women in terms of economic activity. Amman is a patriarchal society and this research explains the prevalent patriarchal structures that influence women’s economic activities and experiences and how these patriarchal structures operate differently depending on class. This research adopts an intersectional approach to gender and class to provide us with a more comprehensive understanding of women’s experiences in relation to economic activity. The study sheds light on the fact that class in Jordan is very much related to place of residence, and the differences between East and West Amman are very influential in determining women’s experiences. It is meant to explore the views and attitudes towards women’s economic activities, and the different views between East and West Amman, and between men and women. Moreover, this research explores the factors that influence women’s economic activities and how these factors are different amongst women themselves. This research also identifies the strategies adopted by women to deal with patriarchy- resistance, negotiation and accommodation-and how those strategies differ depending on class. The data for this research was collected through interviews with 18 women, nine from East and nine from West Amman, economically active and inactive. The research also made use of 164 questionnaires completed by both men and women from East and West Amman. The questionnaire aimed to provide us with data showing class differences between East and West Amman, and was also used to provide us with the attitudes and views towards women’s and men’s economic activities.

Persons from the former USSR constitute a significant proportion of the migrant population in contemporary Germany. Current research on their health is scarce and carried out from a medical perspective, mostly focusing on health outcomes and patterns of healthcare utilisation. In contrast, this thesis is based on a sociological approach to health as a phenomenon embedded in a complex system of social stratification and cultural traditions. The research question of this thesis is about the relationship of identity to health beliefs and help-seeking practices, and they ways migration transforms ways people think of themselves and their health. To answer this question, qualitative research needs to establish migrants' own interpretations of health and illness in the biographical context. Setting out to identify and explain a variety of native conceptualisations of health, this thesis, on the one hand, seeks to establish differences between migrant and non-migrant population, and, on the other hand, to reflect on heterogeneity of health beliefs and help-seeking behaviours across different sub-groups of former Soviet citizens in Germany. In order to pursue these research objectives, comparative qualitative research design was employed, whereby different groups of migrant population were compared with each other and contrasted to native Germans. The empirical fieldwork was carried out in Berlin in 2009-2010, and included 35 semi-structured interviews (of which 8 were carried out with experts). This thesis suggests that health beliefs and help-seeking practices of migrants from the former USSR in Germany are highly heterogeneous. Attitudes to health make up components of diverse identities acquired in the sending country and that are transformed throughout the migratory processes. First, these findings argue against generalisations about 'fatalistic' health beliefs resulting from communist ideology, a stereotype appearing in some Western literatures. Second, this thesis draws attention to the effects of socialisation in the sending country on conceptualisations of health in the country of immigration, suggesting prospects for research in future migrant generations. And third, it demonstrates that folk conceptualisations of health are hugely heterogeneous, and diverge greatly from medical views of health as an absence of illness.

This thesis explores the relationship between social comparisons and health and wellbeing as a possible explanation for health inequalities. This is because, although inequalities in health have been observed in Britain since occupational and mortality statistics were first published in 1851 (Macintyre, 1997), the underlying reasons remain a subject of much debate. This thesis adds to the debate by focusing on one of the most influential arguments in recent decades; that, in developed countries, perceptions of place as a class context in the socioeconomic hierarchy is a psychosocial risk factor related to ill health (Wilkinson, 1992; Wilkinson, 1996). However, despite being implied as the central mechanism in his psychosocial pathway, surprisingly, Wilkinson has given little attention to the process of social comparisons. His reliance on large scale epidemiological data to make inferences at an individual level is unsatisfactory since it offers no understanding of the dimensions of people’s social comparisons and how this may be linked to health and wellbeing. The main aim of this study was, therefore, to investigate the scope and nature of social comparisons amongst people living in proximal socio-economically contrasting neighbourhoods, their perceptions of class and inequality and how this might impact on health and wellbeing. In-depth interviewing was the main methodology, supplemented with media analysis and participant observation in order to gain an understanding of the study areas. A total of 33 interviews were conducted with parents from Drumchapel and Bearsden. These areas were chosen because they were strikingly different class contexts, Drumchapel representing a working class area and Bearsden a middle class area. As Wilkinson focuses on between-class comparisons, the selection of these proximal neighbourhoods provided a good opportunity to investigate the extent to which people make comparisons between classes. Insofar as lay theories map on to explanations of health inequalities, this study found little support for Wilkinson’s assertion that perception of place in the social hierarchy is the determining factor in relation to health and wellbeing. Firstly, unlike his suggestion that social comparisons are more common with decreasing social class, the process was found to be a widespread social phenomenon which people across the hierarchy utilise for both self-evaluation and self-enhancement. Secondly, in contrast to Wilkinson’s focus on a single economic hierarchy, this study found compelling evidence that people often utilise complex multiple status hierarchies that can include material and non-material factors like speech, social mannerisms, moral respectability, education, and family upbringing when making social comparisons. In this respect, though Wilkinson’s call for income redistribution policies is admirable, it would not necessarily eliminate feelings of relative deprivation because status differences can exist even in the most economically equal societies. Thirdly, whilst factors like globalisation, the rise in consumerism, and expansion of the mass media have made people more aware of inequalities in society, comparisons with ‘similar others’ like neighbours, friends, family members, and work colleagues were found to be still the most salient reference groups. Further support for this was that status distinctions within classes (e.g. between ‘old’ and ‘new’ money in Bearsden and ‘rough’ and ‘respectable’ in Drumchapel) were more important than those between classes. Lastly, and most importantly, there was little indication that a psychosocial explanation is at the forefront of people’s minds in accounting for health inequalities. To begin with, none of the participants spontaneously suggested a psychosocial mechanism; instead, those in Drumchapel were more likely to suggest material/structural factors whilst Bearsden participants tended to advocate behavioural/cultural explanations. Furthermore, although there was evidence to suggest that ‘some’ people may be vulnerable to similar negative effects of social comparisons they perceived as impacting on others (including anxiety, stress, pressure and depressive state), such effects appeared to be minimal since they were reported to occur only at particular periods in people’s lives. The fact that this thesis was centred on Wilkinson’s psychosocial hypothesis is testimony to the enormous contribution he has made to the health inequalities debate. However, in examining the association between social comparisons and health and wellbeing, the conclusion drawn from this study is that the role of social comparisons in the psychosocial mechanism may have been exaggerated.

Policy in Scotland, as in the rest of the U.K, aims to enable people with learning disabilities to access the same opportunities as other citizens. This thesis explores the meanings and experiences of citizenship and inclusion in the lives of people who challenge services the most, whether because of profound impairment, vulnerability or perceived risk to others. Case studies were conducted with 14 individuals with learning disabilities who were assessed as needing at least one-to-one support in their day centre or supported living setting, or who were considered difficult to discharge from long-stay hospital. Through interviews and observations I sought to identify the barriers to and safeguards of inclusion in their daily lives. Perspectives on the issues affecting service provision were obtained through telephone interviews with commissioners in 28 out of 32 local authorities in Scotland, conducted at the time of ‘The same as you?’ review. I argue that the notion of the rights-bearing citizen should be extended to embrace vulnerability, differences in capacity and the need for advocacy in order to develop practices that do not systematically marginalise some people within a new normalcy of active citizenship. I also reflect on my own learning about the conduct of inclusive research from working with study participants with high support needs.

This thesis attempts to present a controlled sociological examination of Art Nouveau in Glasgow from the eighteen-nineties into the first decade of the twentieth century. The phenomenon of Glasgow Art Nouveau (its ideological groundings, its socio-cultural base, and the nature of its artistic production), provides a case-study of avant-gardism. The main intention is to illustrate, with historical exemplification, to what extent Art Nouveau can be interpreted as a radical social critique underpinned by specific theoretical and ideolgoical concerns. I begin by examining (a) the analytic means whereby statisfactory criteria are developed for the purpose of defining Art Nouveau as an artistic style; the specific manifestations of this style in a variety of European countries, and its transformation from organic/symbolic to abstract/geometric form-language; and (b) Art Nouveau as a distinctive cultural movement which was attempting to transform the public sphere in accordance with artistic principles. The second chapter has a dual purpose: firstly, it examines the status of Art Nouveau as an avant-garde movement, and, secondly, it attempts to construct the basis for a specifically sociological theory of Art Nouveau by bringing together the arguments of certain social theorists who have made significant reference to the phenomenon. Subsequently, it is demonstrated that, within the sphere of influence of the Glasgow School of Art, continental avant-gardiste trends at the end of the nineteenth century provided the frame of reference for the understanding of new artistic movements in Glasgow. This leads to an analysis of Mackintosh's extant writings in order that a reconstruction of the essentials of Scottish Art Nouveau's distinctive ideology can be presented. It is argued that Glasgow Art Nouveau had a coherent viewpoint in many respects deriving from the formulations of the Edinburgh sociologist and theorist Patrick Seddes. As well as demonstrating the closeness of Mackintosh's theorising to that of certain Viennese Art Nouveau exponents (Wagner, Hoffmann) with whom he had contact, it is shown to what extent Scottish Art Nouveau was attempting to transcend the traditional distinction between the utilitarian and the artistic, and address the issue of a social environment transformed in accordance with modern social needs. The remainder of the thesis substantively examines crucially related aspects of the Glasgow cultural context. Firstly, it focusses upon the Art School as institutional context within which Art Nouveau emerges, and demonstrates the relevance of the implementation of an experimental approach to art teaching there. Secondly, it examines the issue of the actual and potential production of goods manifesting the new form-language. Thirdly, the nature of the reception given to the new form-language is investigated: this invovles an analysis of relevant reportage in Glasgow. The reasons for the failure of the movement to gain ground in Glasgow are shown to be connected with a number of complex factors ranging from moral outrage at its `decadence' to the absence of the kind of technical expertise capable of consolidating its innovations for a mass society.