Due to the limitations of the household registration system, rural migrants in Chinese cities are unable to access the same range of rights and benefits as urban natives. This rural-urban segregation has consequences beyond access to political and economic rights and resources; it has deepened to shape cultural and ideological perceptions. This deepening has a profound influence on the children of migrant workers who are moving to study in the city. Though nowadays children of migrant workers can study in urban public schools alongside local students, the rural-urban structural divide still exists and impedes personal and social relations between the two groups. This research investigated the difficulties and opportunities encountered by children of migrant workers after they have entered urban public schools and as the face the realities of contact with urban people. The research also discussed whether educating rural and urban students together can help children of migrant workers’ social adaptation in the city, or whether this studying together model places pressures on rural students which impede their social integration into urban communities. A ‘field-habitus’ analysis framework was used to assess rural students’ social adaptation performances in the city. Research methods including questionnaire surveys, in-depth interviews and focus groups were employed in the study. Besides rural students, urban people such as urban students and teachers whom rural students interact with in schools were investigated in the research. Moreover, to evaluate whether inclusive education in public schools has created an inclusive environment to help rural students’ social adaptation, rural students from private schools, who are receiving an exclusive education that is only for children of migrant workers, were also studied as the reference group. Based on the data analysis, the research found that rural students from public schools are generally well-adapted to their urban lives. Additionally, compared with rural students from private schools, rural students from public schools have more urbanized behaviours and lifestyles. Meanwhile, the research indicated that rural students being educated in public schools suffer from many misunderstandings and conflicts with urban students, which may bring them more pressures related to social adaptation compared with their counterparts in private schools. Rural students’ social adaptation performances were attributed to the dual functions of education, meaning that education in public schools may either improve or impede children of migrant workers’ adaptation to their lives in the city. The discussion on the role of education was mainly based on Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Cultural Reproduction and Inclusive Education Model. Moreover, students’ family background was also taken into consideration for a more comprehensive explanation.

This thesis is a text-based analysis of conceptions of the intellectual in relation to the political sphere. The specific instances studied relate, positively and negatively, to the socialist tradition in politics and culture. They are drawn from a variety of academic disciplinary contexts and also from the contexts of political organisations and social movements. One of the principal dilemmas faced by the intellectual in this century, as this thesis sets out to make clear, has been that of trying to bridge the divide between these two spheres. This investigation is centred upon statements made by intellectuals reflecting upon the typical role or function of the intellectual within society and politics. My contention is that such self-reflection is a necessary condition of the intellectual's coming into being. Intellectuals are realised in specific identities, in a process of self-identification. The force of intellectual practice is dependent upon elements of personal commitment, moral or political, and the enactment of an experiential dimension. But, at the same time, as a practice that has a transcendent orientation, the intellectual seeks to go beyond the subjective in pursuit of the objective, the extra-personal, the unsituated. My thesis offers itself as an identification of a tradition, as the relation of a narrative of the intellectual, which also recognises its own particularity. As such, it is not a work of synthesis, but a reflexive narrative. Narrative is an appropriate concept with regards to the intellectual; it may thus be seen as a creative process drawing upon particular events and characters. Such a view, involving both commitment to and distance from the intellectual, is not common within prevailing accounts, which have tended to be either sociological-objective or normative-subjective. I have tried to see the intellectual as reflexively situated between these positions, as between an interested identity and disinterested practice, and not just in a purely “objective" fashion but acknowledging my own involvement within such a view.

This study is a qualitative analysis of direct cultural encounters between China and the West. It examines the subjective experiences of Chinese students in Britain and Western expatriate teachers in China from their own viewpoints – how they understood and interpreted different cultures and made sense of similarities and differences between one another, that is, how they experienced cultural translation. It employs focus group and individual interviewing methods. This study adopts an analytical framework of a before-during-after logic to answer three questions: 1) why did participants come to the host country and what did they think of it before arrival? 2) how did they relate to the host environment and make sense of differences? and 3) how these direct cross-cultural experiences influenced them as well as the wider context of cultural relations between China and the West? It presents the historical background of cultural and educational exchange between China and the West and identifies motives of participants coming to the host country under the current context of global cultural flows. Furthermore, it highlights factors that differentiated the subjective experiences of participants, such as gender, duration of time spent in the host country, relationships with local people and the subjects of study. The effects of participants’ experiences in the host country also varied according to these factors. What underpins the relationship between China and the West in terms of cultural and educational contacts, presented by Chinese students in Britain and Western expatriate teachers in China, is fundamentally an interplay between economic and cultural factors. Differences between China and the West are as much cultural as institutional. This study provides a detailed account of such differences. It discusses what aspects of Western cultural values have a strong influence on China and which traditional Chinese values still hold their importance during direct cultural encounters with the West. It reveals the internal struggle, caused by cultural differences and institutional limitations, amongst both Chinese students in Britain and Western expatriate teachers in China, but it also highlights the ways in which some differences have been exaggerated during direct cross-cultural encounters as well as the profound social and cultural similarities shared by China and the West, which tend to be overlooked.

Within the social sciences, there is extensive literature on youth transitions as a key context for understanding how social changes and complex contemporary life have an impact on young people’s lives, focusing generally on the ‘global north’. However, far too little attention has been paid to exploring youth transitions in the ‘global south’. Even if it is acknowledged that youth research in the global south has grown in recent years, and has discovered different youth experiences from those in northern contexts, these studies have still been narrow and mostly based on theoretical rather than new empirical work. This research addresses the research gap by investigating young people’s transition from education to the labour market, and exploring the impact of social changes on their lives beyond the global north, in Kuwaiti society. It provides insight into how contemporary young people are constructing and negotiating their pathways to work within a complex reality in which traditional norms and cultural restrictions come into conflict with modernity. It highlights the role of certain variables that continue to mould their transition, including family, gender, religion, education, and government policies. It demonstrates that the rapid change and the compressed manner of modernity in Kuwait have made young people live in a state of tension and contradiction between modernity and tradition, agency and structure, and individual and collective ways of life. It shows how the unique nature of modernity and its consequences in Kuwaiti society have made the young people’s experience distinct from that described in other contexts. This study draws on data generated through questionnaires and interviews. It involves a sample of 1,120 secondary school students, and 24 young adults who had recently entered the labour market. The thesis, which reports the results, challenges existing models in the youth studies literature and critically assesses general sociological theories which tend to be northern-centric. In considering the ideas of the German sociologist Ulrich Beck on modernisation and individualisation, it is difficult to apply his western ideas to the Kuwaiti context. This thesis therefore calls for a cosmopolitan sociology, claiming the need to re-define the concepts within social sciences in such a way that can be easily and flexibly used in a variety of global contexts.

Building on research with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people (UASC) from a resilience perspective, this study investigates the protective mechanisms that support UASC in adapting to life in the UK. ‘Positive adaptation’ is framed as: emotional wellbeing, educational success and social connectedness. Two strands of research are carried out: 1) focus groups that investigate views of key adults (foster carers and social care staff) working with UASC, in order to understand how they frame UASC’s positive adaptation; the protective mechanisms they have experienced to promote emotional wellbeing; and approaches they have found successful in addressing mental health difficulties; and 2) individual interviews, using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analytical approach, with five UASC who were considered resilient. Interviews investigated how individual UASC felt that they had coped with their experiences. I relate findings to resilience frameworks that recognise a complex matrix of risk factors, vulnerability and protective mechanisms operating for each individual at the individual, the family and community/societal level. Findings provide a strong argument for a psycho-social approach to mental health with UASC, establishing stability, whilst building on personal coping strategies, personal strengths and sense of autonomy and competence. Implications for services and interventions are discussed.

Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASCs) are part of the life course of some individuals and as such there are significant implications in relation to matters of identity and the need to ensure educational and professional practices are considered from an ethical perspective as related to self and identity. However, despite the wide ranging literature in the area of autism, there is very little research that examines identity in relation to young people with ASCs. Furthermore, where identity is noted as an important consideration, the concept is often inadequately theorised and explained with reference to psychological frameworks of identity. This study draws on narrative psychology and the concept of narrative identity (McAdams, 2011) to explore what insider perspectives, gained through life story accounts of lived experience, can tell us about processes related to sense-making, self and identity in young people with a diagnosis of a ASC. The findings revealed that the participants were actively engaged in sense-making of their experiences and in the production of narrative identities. A rich and complex picture of identities emerged that went beyond the label of autism. The narrative accounts demonstrated the heterogeneity amongst participants and the need for understandings at the individual level in order to promote a person-centred approach to practice, education, interventions and ethics.

This thesis provides a sociological analysis of the in-service training (INSET) of teachers in England between 1988 and 1992, to explore issues concerning the professionalism and autonomy of teachers. Sociologists of education have produced numerous explanations of educational phenomena, and evaluation studies reveal much about INSET. Yet there remains the task of developing sociological explanations in this field. As an especially dynamic phase, the period designated merits detailed study. Teachers' professional development is conceptualized in three ways: in relation to change in the education system, to the place of teaching as a profession, and in terms of professional learning. National INSET schemes implicitly threatened teacher autonomy, yet professionalism could be redefined at the micro- level, and this study therefore addresses macro- and micro-sociological issues. The empirical research concentrates with increasing intensity on school-focused INSET experiences, through data from documentary sources, in-depth interviews, and participant observation. Chapter 1 explains the rationale for the investigation and demarcates the field of study. Chapter 2 outlines the background to the Local Education Authority Training Grant Scheme and similar initiatives. Chapter 3 sets out the sociological basis for the analysis of INSET phenomena. Methodological issues are addressed in Chapter 4, including the choice of case studies, the challenges of re-analyzing data and the criteria for selecting cases. The analysis presents a macro-sociological perspective in Chapter 5, then examines how national and LEA priorities are implemented in schools in Chapter 6. Micro-level case studies explore specific aspects of INSET: across different phases in Chapter 7 and on using information technology in Chapter 8. Chapter 9 investigates INSET for art. Chapter 10 summarizes the ways this thesis contributes to knowledge about the professionalism and autonomy of teachers through the study of INSET during a critical period. It reviews the application of the theoretical approach and points to areas for further research.

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.

The research reported in this thesis examines the social construction of ethnic and gender identities by British-Muslim pupils, from a critical, feminist, discursive position. The research draws upon critical, feminist conceptualisations of identity which challenge positivistic Social Psychological theories of ethnic identity for constructing British-Muslim young people in racist and sexist ways. The aims of this study were to (i) identify ways in which young people conceptualise their identities with regard to 'race', gender and religion and (ii) consider young people's constructions of racism and sexism, particularly within the context of school. Analyses suggest that the young men constructed 'Muslim' identities, through which they positioned themselves as 'not western', and asserted hegemonic masculinities. These constructions are contrasted with previous literature, in which second generation Asians are conceptualised as choosing between 'British' and 'Asian' identities. The young men used discourses of 'culture' to position themselves both as 'not proper Muslims' (in comparison to Muslims in Bangladesh) and as 'authentic' Muslims (in comparison to Muslim women in Britain). These constructions are discussed in terms of the young men's talk about the duties of 'being a man'. Analyses of the female discussion group data suggest that the young women reproduced and resisted stereotypical discourses of themselves as oppressed, 'passive victims'. In particular, young women conceptualised arranged marriages in terms of 'choice', positioning forced marriages as 'not marriage'. The theme of choice is also reproduced in discussions around the wearing of dbuttah and educational careers, in which the young women emphasised their own agency. In comparison to the young men, the women constructed 'British Muslim' identities. The differences in the young people's identity constructions are discussed in terms of their resistance to racist discourses and the negotiation of masculinities and femininities. Similarities in the young people's use of 'race' discourses are also highlighted, through their construction 'Black' and 'Asian' identities.

Interactive TV, a new media service based on an amalgamation of traditional TV watching and Web-based features, has turned consuming TV programmes and value-added services into an individual and interactive experience. This research aims to stimulate thinking about the changing role of interactive TV as it moves from a passive medium to a more active medium, enabling learning opportunities for young adults previously confined to the personal computer (PC) domain. This new paradigm of interactivity for education and learning offers personalised and innovative ways to learn that differ from learning in traditional academic courses. To ensure that TV-based learning is adequately supported, the research provides teaching and learning materials through electronic media. A Taiwanese educational TV multimedia home platform (MHP)programme entitled 'Follow Me after School', which is composed of science topics, reference materials, study quizzes and interactive functions, is used to facilitate teaching through screen-based media and stimulate youths' after-school learning activities. Joshua Meyrowitz's 'situational' approach is adopted to form the methodological framework of this work. The framework incorporates a set of quantitative questionnaires and the formation of youth groups to watch interactive TV's edutainment programmes. The methodology also involves qualitative data-collection methods, such as participant media activities recorded on a guided, open-end, diary-style form and multitasking analyses, to provide in-depth understanding of learners' experiences in the new media environment. Drawing on new technologies' involvement in children's educational and social experiences, this research focuses on pre-adolescents in Taiwan and presents a scenario demonstrating that although well-designed interactive TV has highly elevated technological capabilities, it cannot change the fact that children's TV watching at home is mostly a social and shared activity. Watching TV is a major part of routine activity in a family environment, neither complemented by nor substituted for PC-related behaviours in certain time, space and social-cultural conditions.