Recent scholarship in the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century has explored the active roles of middling and genteel women in the home, redefining such ‘leisure’ activities as polite conversation, tea-making, and embroidery as ‘work’, thereby relocating women’s activities into broader webs of productive relations. The majority of this scholarship has remained largely historical in nature, and my thesis moves this field forward by examining these work/leisure activities in close relation to the developing novel form and its inherent narratological and ideological possibilities, in the period 1770-1820. I analyse the novel and the specific perspectives on work and leisure it generates in relation to narrative mimesis, and the works of Hannah Arendt, Karl Marx, and Arlie Hoschild. Using these diverse theories and theorists, I am able show the autonomy, relaxation, and pleasure women’s activity could potentially give in the period, and therefore show its leisure functions, whilst at the same demonstrate the importance of women’s activity in broad social structures, thereby emphasising their status as work. My first three chapters move through women’s engagement with needlework, musical accomplishment, and reading in that order. As such, I create a progression from needlework, understood as work as such; to musical accomplishment, which is more closely aligned with leisure but which nevertheless required patience and commitment; to the reading of novels, which was usually understood as a purely personal, introverted experience requiring no active effort. I therefore move from activity well understood as work through to activity understood as pure leisure, and gradually break down the work/leisure binary my showing both work and leisure functions within all three activities. My final two chapters extend this argument by considering the seemingly spontaneous acts of falling in love and feeling sympathy within a framework of work, thereby locating emotions within the context of my argument.

Research shows a predominantly female orientated approach to the study of fertility and childbearing. Prior to the 1990s men were missing from this research by design. Women were asked to report their partner’s childbearing preferences and behaviours and thus the true attitudes and opinions of men were largely unknown. Although men are no longer missing from this research, their participation rates are disproportionally low compared to women. The aims of the studies to be presented in this thesis were to better understand the childbearing preferences and behaviours of men, establish reasons for why men have disproportionately low participation rates in the research on childbearing, identify who and what could be a target of behaviour change interventions aimed to increase participation in childbearing research and identify whether the implementation of such interventions increase male participation. The work presented in this thesis demonstrates that, as with women, a number of factors influence whether and when men begin parenthood. However, there is diversity between men and women in terms of what factors they consider to be important and influential in the preconception decision-making process. Men overall wanted to be fathers but did not want to be involved beyond being the breadwinner of the family.Therefore results highlight the need to consider the childbearing preferences and behaviours of men in order to understand contemporary fertility trends and identify unmet needs in policy and research that concern men. Notwithstanding this, the disproportionally low participation rates of men in the research on childbearing ultimately means that the research base is not providing a good account of male attitudes towards whether and when to have children. When given the opportunity to participate in childbearing research men participate significantly less than women actively excluding themselves from the research as a result of less favourable attitudes towards the behaviour. The modification of attitudes is thus identified to be the mechanism that would most likely elicit intention (and potentially behaviour) change. The implementation of persuasive messages aimed to modify attitudes towards participation in childbearing research increased the perceived relevance of the behaviour but had little effect on attitude, intention and research behaviour. Overall, the work presented in this thesis demonstrates that raising public awareness that childbearing is an issue that affects men as well as women is likely to be key to integrating men into family life and increasing their participation in childbearing research.

With dramatic changes in family-related behaviours in the past 50 years, there has been an increasing awareness and acceptance of different family arrangements. Subsequently, measuring and studying people’s attitudes towards issues such as commitment to marriage, acceptance of alternative family forms, parental separation and gender roles has gained a lot of attention among those working in the fields of sociology, social psychology and demography. The majority of studies examining the relationship between family-related attitudes and behaviour have focused on either the selection or adaptation effects of attitudes, with fewer (particularly of those using British data) specifically addressing the possibility of both processes taking place. This study’s main goal is to address the latter using the data of two British cohorts born 12 years apart: the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS) and the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS). The cohort’s attitudes are measured by a scale consisting of three items which relate to: marriage being a lifelong commitment, a divorce being easily obtainable these days and the acceptability of parental separation. This work adopts the perspective of value orientation and life course position which implies a recursive nature of attitudes and behaviour whereby behaviour is influenced by people’s values (the selection effect of attitudes) and these values, in turn, adjust following changes in people’s circumstances (the adaptation effect of attitudes). The availability of attitude statements at two time points for each cohort (at age 26 and 30 for BCS; at age 33 and 42 for NCDS) and rich partnership history data allows for such analyses to be carried out as the order of events can be established. Firstly, this research utilises bivariate and multivariate techniques to investigate the determinants of attitudes. Further, it implements regression analyses to explore the relationships between attitude scores and: a) transition to first marriage for non-cohabiting cohort members (BCS and NCDS); b) transition to first marriage of cohabiting cohort members (BCS) and c) dissolution of first marriage (NCDS). The main findings show some evidence of both the selection and adaptation effects of attitudes in relation to marital transitions for both cohorts, indicating the importance of attitudes in shaping people’s behaviour and at the same time showing the tendency of attitudes to change in line with an individual’s personal circumstances.

This thesis examines the development of representation in typically developing children and in young children with Down's Syndrome. The focus on representation allows us to adopt a general approach to development in infancy spanning domains such as motor development, language, object permanence, imitation, and symbolic play. Theoretical approaches to children with Down's Syndrome have been dominated by the `delay versus difference' controversy. This perspective suggests that development in children with Down's Syndrome should proceed with a sequence and structure similar to that observed in typically developing children. In this thesis it is argued, in contrast, that children with Down's Syndrome present a number of challenges to the organisational perspective. This thesis examines the strengths and weaknesses in the development of children with Down's Syndrome and attempts to identify the structural links between domains which are threatened by such a profile. These results of empirical studies detailed in this thesis suggest that development across domains such as language, motor development and object permanence appears to be relatively coherent. However, children with Down's Syndrome show subtle differences in their performance on object permanence and symbolic play tasks which suggests deviation from the typical pattern of structural coherence. Specifically, children with Down's Syndrome appear to adopt a more imitative strategy in solving object permanence tasks and in their symbolic play. The prevalence of imitation as a strategy may be indicative of a shallow level of processing. Alternatively, it may also be argued that children with Down's Syndrome adopt a different representational style in performing tasks. These subtle difference in the style with which children approach task suggest that the learning and consolidation process may differ between children with Down's Syndrome and the typically developing population. Such findings may have important consequences for intervention.

The aim of this research was to explore fatherhood from a man’s perspective. How do fathers respond emotionally when they experience fatherhood for the first time? What influences these responses? When fathers feel unable to share difficulties with their partner do internet discussion sites provide an effective medium for fathers to access support and advice? Given the important role fathers play in the lives of their children, what factors might lead them to disengage and cease contact? These questions are addressed within the thesis. Chapter 1 provides a review of the literature and aims to focus on exploring the father-child relationship from the father’s perspective and potential hurdles and barriers fathers may have to negotiate when developing and maintaining involvement with their child. Chapter 2 details the main paper. This Grounded Theory study explores the salient emotional experiences of nine fathers, three to six months after the birth of their first child. Emotional responses appear to be influenced by the father’s personal history and the social and interpersonal context. Feelings of attachment to the child are linked to the early attachment experience at birth and subsequently to interplay between instability, turmoil and positive change or growth. Methodological issues and clinical implications are discussed. Chapter 3 details the brief paper. A topic area on an on-line internet discussion forum for fathers was examined in detail using narrative analysis. Findings revealed evidence of significant emotional expression, yet limited emphatic emotional or informational support. Two types of contributors were identified, those using a ‘conversational’ dialogue and those only expressing their views/experience. Future research and developments within the internet are discussed. Chapter 4 offers a reflective review of entering a father’s world as a researcher and includes reflections on the research process, my role as a researcher and the research findings.

Social support has been shown to reduce the effects of stress and help individuals to cope. However, research suggests that the effects of social support depend on whether there is a match between the type of support offered and the needs of a particular situation, and from whom the support is offered. The aim of this study as a whole was to examine the social support experiences particular to women who are faced with the distressing problem of chronic pelvic pain (CPP). The literature review (chapter one) revealed that although pain is defined as a subjective experience, research in this field has rarely been concerned with the experience of CPP from the perspective of the women who suffer it. The first study (chapter two) therefore aimed to gain a detailed description of social support transactions as experienced by women with CPP. Eight women with CPP were interviewed about what has been helpful and unhelpful in terms of social support from their partners, families, friends, acquaintances, doctors, nurses and other women with CPP. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of interview transcripts revealed both helpful and unhelpful efforts at support from the various support providers. Findings are discussed in relation to extant literature and in terms of their clinical implications. The second study (chapter three) was concerned specifically with social support from partners. Standardised measures of pain experience, social support and psychological well being were administered to 29 women with CPP. Correlational analysis revealed significant associations between particular perceptions of partner support behaviours and depression and pain severity. Finally, the research review (chapter four) reflects on the extent to which this research project fulfils evolving criteria for the assessment of qualitative research.

In recent years, Canadian governments and courts have increasingly responded positively to the demands of lesbian and gay communities for legal rights. As a result, in several instances, such rights have been extended, at both statutory and constitutional levels. In this thesis, I consider the politics of struggles for lesbian and gay legal equality in Canada. Although I explore several developments in this area, I focus my analysis upon two key examples: the struggle, in 1986, to add a "sexual orientation" ground to Ontario's Human Rights Code; and a key legal rights case launched in the late 1980s, and still on-going as of this writing (Mossop). More specifically, I address three key questions: [1] how are lesbian and gay subjects and subjectivities constituted through human rights law and what forces produce these legal constructions? [2] how capable are liberal democracies of accommodating 'sexual pluralism', and what are the implications of this for other areas of social transformation? [3] what is the relationship between the lesbian and gay rights movement, its principal opponents the New Christian Right, and 'the state' - how do the struggles of social movements for interpretive authority shape the law-making process (and vice versa)? In responding to these questions, I draw upon diverse approaches in legal theory, sociology, feminism, and lesbian and gay studies. My analysis centres upon the role of law as a site of struggle. I explore the engagements between the lesbian and gay rights movement, and its key opponent the New Christian Right. I assess the effects of lesbian and gay rights campaigns in both the short and long terms, considering issues to do with social movement mobilisation, effective political communication, and the role of these struggles in shifting dominant frameworks of meaning. I offer a detailed discussion of the role of rights, as goal and rhetoric, within political action. And I consider the relationship between law, and other forms of knowledge. I argue that the effects of legal struggle are complex, contradictory, and unpredictable. Lesbian and gay rights reforms have both entrenched and undermined dominant paradigms of sexuality, and the effects of legal struggle in this and other areas must be assessed in the long-term. This thesis contributes to knowledge in four key areas: critical rights theory; theories of law and social change; the sociology of social movements and religions; and lesbian and gay politics. I use a combination of legal, sociological, feminist, and historical methodologies.

This dissertation examines sexual reputation in the county of Somerset between 1733 and 1850. Its purpose is to explore plebeian sexual culture by tracing changes in the way plebeian men and women defined and defended their sexual reputations in an era of social, economic and cultural transition. In this period Somerset evolved from a prosperous and rapidly growing county with an economy based on agriculture and manufactures to a more static and primarily agrarian county; its major city, Bath, went from being a thriving resort to a retirement town. At the same time, the breakdown of the Puritan sexual consensus left a hiatus before the triumph of Victorianism during which a multiplicity of sexual cultures thrived. The defamation causes heard in the ecclesiastical courts of the diocese of Bath and Wells constitute the basic source for the study of plebeian sexual reputation. By the eighteenth century, these causes were concerned solely with sexual insults and the courts' clients were predominantly and increasingly married women drawn from the ranks of artisans and small tradespeople in the county's market towns and the city of Bath. The survival of this jurisdiction reflects a continuing need on the part of plebeian litigants for a cheap and public mode of settling disputes over honour. Though plebeian men continued to use the church courts to restore their good names long after upper class men had ceased to do so, their eventual abandonment of the courts has necessitated the use of common law sources to construct a picture of male reputation. As the industrial and agricultural revolutions proceeded, and the personnel of the church courts adopted a sexual ideology emphasising privacy, decorum and the double standard, traditional plebeian sexual mores were challenged. Definitions of male and female reputation diverged and the egalitarianism of the early eighteenth century weakened. By the mid-nineteenth century, the dominant sexual culture had triumphed: the distinctive plebeian sexual culture had been absorbed by the more homogeneous sexual culture of the Victorian era; litigants had ceased to use the church courts; and, in 1854, the defamation jurisdiction was abolished.

This thesis is an attempt to explain the historical origins and the cultural location of the hippie counterculture in Britain in the late 1960s. Part One contains two intentions. It depicts and assesses existing theoretical attempts to account for the counter-culture; but it also works through dominant contemporary modes of cultural theory and the sociology of youth culture, in particular the work of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. The overall aim of this section is to present a revision; a fresh cultural studies 'theoretical overview' to historically relocate the emergence of forms of bohemian counter-culture. Part Two considers and charts such forms of bohemian ideology. The initial premise is that the hippie countercultural form was a modernised instance of bohemianism: an attempt to formulate the ground rules of anesthetic revolution and present a cultural critique according to the 'problems' and 'solutions' of artistic practice. It reveals the historical development of the institutions of artistic practice which have kept the Romantic, bohemian ideology of cultural criticism alive and pertinent. More specifically I concentrate on the development of art education. I conclude that existing accounts of the hippie counterculture which attempt to locate its emergence in either the language of youth-cultural expression or the 'spirit of the age' are superficial and misleading. The counter-culture, like other forms of cultural ideology, must be related to its institutional setting: hence I stress the significance of art education, as a 'carrier' of conflicting cultural and artistic ideologies, through to the 1960s. The thesis is primarily focussed on hippie ideology; therefore my methodology essentially presents problems of historical research - into the dominant influences on the formation of a modernised aesthetic counter-cultural form, and the attempts offered by the hippies themselves, specifically in the written media and music, to redefine the rules of cultural discourse.

The emphasis in this thesis is on women's popular attitudes towards the two processes of industrial mobilisation and demobilisation which took place between 1940 and 1946. Although the work includes a survey of the national picture of those two processes, it concentrates on case studies in two towns which exhibited different characteristics of women's employment, Coventry and Bolton. This is done in an attempt to see if the tradition of women's employment affected their attitudes towards war work. In Coventry, the best sources of women's employment were for single women. During the nineteen-thirties it was obvious that the motor industry employed increasing numbers of women, but, again, the unmarried. The economic participation rate in Coventry was slightly lower than the national average. On the other hand, the cotton industry in Bolton customarily had engaged married women as well as single women, therefore, the women's economic participation rate was about 10 per cent. higher than the national average. Local custom with regard to married women's employment appears to have affected women's ideas About their domestic responsibilities. Coventry women were more reserved and more conscious of their domestic role. However, the comparison between the two towns also brought out similarities as well as differences in women's attitudes to industrial mobilisation. During demobilisation, the similarities between Coventry and Bolton were more strongly marked. The majority of women war workers had no intention of staying on in the factory, in jobs which were still largely thought of as 'men's work'. Most women thought that their well-being was dependent on men's secure employment and high wages. They did not want to do anything to threaten it. There seems to have been little antagonism between men and women during the mobilisation and demobilisation period.