This study investigates women's experiences of unemployment in Glasgow and will contribute to a literature in which there are very few studies on women's unemployment. The thesis seeks to challenge the marginality of women's unemployment in sociological discourses. The research is based on interviews with forty unemployed women and sixteen women engaged on Employment Training schemes in Glasgow. The research questions the assumptions and discourses of the mainstream sociological literature on work and unemployment. It highlights the ways in which these sociological discourses draw upon and give legitimacy to existing gendered ideologies about female roles. Contrary to the dominant sociological paradigm which marginalises the importance of women's unemployment, the evidence presented in this thesis demonstrates that waged work is a central and valued part of women's social identity. The data shows that in unemployment women lose their economic identity and this has a detrimental impact upon their social and domestic identities. Women's domestic role did not compensate for the loss of their paid employment. Rather, the experience of unemployment made women value waged work more.

Primarily through a case study of the Petauke District this thesis examines the perceptions of local men and women as a basis for examining the significance of the social construction of masculinity for the transmission of HIV/AIDS in heterosexual marriages in rural Zambia. Further, it explores participants' perceptions regarding two possibly key dimensions to the transmission of HIV/AIDS in heterosexual marital relationships in rural Zambia. These are the interconnections between masculinity and gender based violence as a factor in the risk of infection, and male attitudes to the use or neglect of condoms as a measure of protection against the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission. This case study is set primarily in a postmodern social constructionist theoretical context. This provides a sensitive means of registering the variety of concepts, perceptions, interpersonal interactions and broader social conditions which feed into masculinity as a social construction. It also facilitates a fine-grained analysis of how notions of masculinity are both context-specific and shift across time. While largely focusing on the illustrative significance of stakeholders' accounts in Petauke District, the study also provides an account of wider socio-economic conditions and the spread of HIV/AIDS, as a backdrop, and a critique of salient features of current health promotion responses. The case study uses qualitative methods, involving the use of individual interviews and focus group discussions with a sample of thirty men and thirty women, respectively, who were previously or are currently married. A thematic approach is used to analyse the data collected in the field. The study findings reveal that study participants perceive Petauke district to be undergoing a process of social transformation and it is thus on a 'cultural crossroads'. This is as a result of the growing influence of the media, education, intermarriages and social mobility. This has given birth to new social values which all have an influence on the social construction of masculinity. Challenging traditional and contemporary hegemonic modes of masculinity is perceived as one of the main tools that should be used to address the association between the social construction of masculinity and the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission in heterosexual marital relationships. This includes addressing the intersection between domestic violence and the risk of HIV/AIDS infection and promoting the use of condoms against the risk of infection in marital relationships. The study concludes by drawing out the implications for health promotion policy and practice. It discusses the need for health promotion to work with male and female stakeholders, and undertake programmes that have as a key strategy the deconstruction of harmful beliefs and ideologies associated with masculinity, in order to address male HIV/AIDS risk taking behaviour in marital relationships in rural Zambian communities.

The thesis works from the conceptual premise that the parent-child relation is constitutive of both subjectivity and narrative form in the Victorian novel: the role of the orphan, the dislocation of the family and the drive to reconstitute it, are primary concerns and condense complex issues of narrative structure, genealogical failure, and the problematisation of parental roles. There have been valuable feminist readings of specific family positions in the Victorian novel, such as ‘the mother’ or ‘the daughter’, but there is still a lack of analyses which locate narrative and thematic concerns in the dynamic interplay between parental and childhood desires: the relation between two or more subjects. I look at four novels in detail: Charles Dickens’ Dombey and Son and Little Dorrit, and Wilkie Collins’ No Name and Armadale. The thesis shows how parent-child relationships are mediated through gendered conflicts: it is, in fact, almost impossible to isolate singular relationships for analysis; the family is a gestalt, becoming greater than the sum of its parts. Throughout the novels repudiated family members, or strange family ‘doubles’, become the focus for the movement of the plot: the way in which fantasy operates across a family group, rather than as an intrasubjective phenomenon, is a key concern. The analyses of the literary texts will demonstrate the processes of transformation that familial desires and fantasies undergo in the characters and in the novels themselves. The concept of generational inheritance, central to the aesthetics and psychologies of the Victorian novels considered here, motivated my turn to psychoanalytic theory. I do not limit my use of psychoanalysis to one model, instead using a dialogical approach dictated by the novels themselves; I incorporate aspects of Jean Laplanche’s theories of ‘general seduction’, in addition to Sigmund Freud’s own writings and later psychoanalytic ideas of inheritance and influence. The ‘family’ is the structuring force for the four novels under consideration. Without always attempting to create a ‘realistic’ psychology of character, Dickens creates competing worlds of personal, familial and social fantasy. The family is a site of anxiety, an anxiety which is not wholly contained, or controlled, by the narrative. Collins likewise engages with the question of inheritance, but, increasingly throughout his writings, he prioritised the emergence of female agency in the wake of a persecutory paternal narrative.

This thesis examines the impact of intimate partner abuse on women‟s experiences of the workplace, a topic that has been under examined within the UK. Taking a pro-feminist perspective, and drawing on Foucault‟s conceptualisation of power, the thesis examines the gendered power relations that survivors negotiate in their relationships with their abusive partners and work colleagues in order to sustain their employment. The thesis also addresses a major gap in the literature, namely the experiences of women in professional and/or managerial occupations and the coping strategies they employ in order to sustain their employment. The thesis draws on 29 in-depth qualitative interviews conducted with survivors of intimate partner abuse who predominantly were employed in skilled, professional and/or managerial occupations. These interviews were conducted via telephone, face-to-face and the internet. Adopting a symbolic interactionist approach, coupled with a Foucauldian perspective on power, it is argued women in professional and/or managerial positions adopt different coping mechanisms to women in unskilled employment in order to sustain their employment. Furthermore, it is argued that for some women disclosure of abuse within the workplace can prove to be a positive coping strategy. However, for those women in managerial positions, it could seriously jeopardise their authority within the workplace. It is also argued that disclosure could undermine the coping strategies that women adopt in order to survive and sustain their employment. This thesis also argues that earning an income and assuming the role of breadwinner within an abusive relationship does not necessarily grant women economic independence, that gendered power relations are far more complex than previous arguments propose. Finally, this thesis not only contributes towards our theoretical and empirical understanding of gendered power dynamics operating within abusive relationships, but it also has a practical application by informing the development of workplace policies and practices regarding intimate partner abuse.

Human reproduction should not be viewed independently from social reproduction, for to do so limits the perspective of the observer. This thesis examines the limitations of previous studies of human reproduction from an anthropological, psychological, medical and sociological view point. It proposes an alternative feminist perspective which looks at the totality of the pregnancy experience as expressed by the women themselves. Although all women perceive fundamental experiences in common, related to their status as women in male dominated societies, it is argued that there are significant socially determined differences between women in the way they react to these experiences. To establish the extent to which all women have pregnancy experiences in common and to which they have different experiences, two separate groups of women (South Asian and indigenous British) were selected for study. These women were interviewed twice during their pregnancy (using a questionnaire and in—depth interviewing) in an attempt to determine their expectations and experiences of the maternal health services and the extent to which their social class, ethnic background and parity, shaped these experiences. Differences in utilisation of services emerge which are based on the women's social class, length of education, cultural background and parity. Tensions are apparent between lay beliefs about health and illness in pregnancy and the medical model which treats all pregnant women as potentially pathological. The clinical model of pregnancy overlooks the social meaning of pregnancy to the woman and her social network and thus is inadequate in this respect. Inevitably, the amount of support and advice pregnant women receive from their social network varies considerably and is closely related to social class and cultural background. The thesis concludes with suggestions for structural changes in society which are necessary if women are to have autonomy over their actions (particularly in relation to reproduction). These changes involve the erosion of sex, class, and race differences in society, which at present ensure that certain groups are better able to manipulate services to their needs. A list of practical recommendations is detailed suggesting specific points which, if implemented, would make women's future pregnancy experiences richer and more rewarding.

This thesis has addressed an ongoing debate on gender differentiation in employment which has been concerned to analyse why women's economic activity should be constructed as more marginal than men's and why women's employment should be so concentrated in low paid, low skilled jobs. The research has examined the nexus of women's paid and unpaid work and how the form of the organisation of the family and familial ideology undermines the crucial importance of paid employment both to women and the family, whilst the form of the organisation of the labour process often undervalues the real competences women have. The research makes plain the contribution of women's paid and unpaid work. It has been focussed as a case study, on the experiences of a sample of women clothing workers who were made redundant. The case study provides material on the organisation of the clothing industry and the nature of women's jobs there; on employer's strategies for restructuring and rationalising the labour process - which includes factory closure, and the impact and meaning of job loss in the context of patterns of female economic activity, women's familial role and the conditions of the female labour market. As such therefore, it is a study not just of job loss, but of the nature of women's work. The thesis concludes that women's paid employment remains differentiated and marginalised whilst women are employed as cheap labour and whilst that is endorsed by men's claim to a breadwinner's wage. The sexual division of labour within the family contributes to the construction of women as cheap labour. However the wage form, as an unequal wage, sustains those familial relations.

This thesis explores the relationships between science fiction, social theory and social transformation through an in-depth analysis of three feminist science fiction novels. It develops innovative reading practices that bring together narrative theories and methodologies from a range of disciplines, including Sociology, Cultural Studies and Literary Studies. With reference to feminist psychoanalytic theory, the thesis also develops an original theorisation of the 'utopian impulse' and the workings of passionate identification in the formation of interpretive communities, with particular reference to feminist, social theoretical, and science fiction (fan) communities. The three novels focused on — The Gate to Women's Country, Body of Glass and The Fifth Sacred Thing — were selected because they crystallise an extensive range of debates conducted in a period of productive crisis for feminist theory and praxis from the mid 1980s through the mid 1990s. The thesis conducts an in-depth analysis of the transformations in social relations, including intimate social relations, that the novels theorise are necessary for the re-visioning of feminist futures. These include issues surrounding Sex, Gender and Sexuality; Mothering and Fatherhood; the relationship between investments in Spirituality, Technology and Hope for the Future. These debates are all set in the larger context of the historical (and epistemological) rupture between Modern and Post-Modern thought caused by the traumatic events of the Holocaust. The thesis argues that the heteroglossic genre possibilities of science fiction enable the novel texts to embody diverse strands of contestatory feminist theorising. They can thus hold open debates that might be foreclosed in more academic genres of theory that prefer texts to embody a single coherent authorial voice. Throughout the thesis I argue that this is a particularly timely moment to examine such questions, when feminist theory in the academy is apparently dominated by post-structuralist theory, and other feminist theories, namely those clustered around radical feminism, have been and continue to be abjected. I argue that feminist hope for the future requires that no feminist theories should simply be rejected, but that they require conscientious re-readings. Feminists, I argue, must take account of their passionate longings for inclusion in feminist interpretive communities as well as the pain caused when feminist theories exclude their subjective experience and / or alternative theories. The reading practices that can be developed when reading feminist science fiction can facilitate such a process.

This thesis explores the way in which people constructed their identities using the cultural, public and social narratives made available to them in mid-twentieth-century England. Focusing on the construction of masculinities, this study argues that, contrary to popular opinion, for many men during this period ontological narratives expanded beyond the ‘masculine’ discourses of politics, work and sport, to encompass ‘feminine’ discourses of family, home and romance. In the first section of this thesis the argument is advanced that ideal domesticity was promoted to men, just as it was to women, as integral to the construction of personal identity. As such, an exploration is undertaken of the ways in which discourses about family and home life incorporated men above and beyond a bread-winning role. Section two of this thesis argues that during these same decades romance became an overriding preoccupation for men and searching for a soul mate became a masculine pursuit of the utmost importance. The third section of this thesis looks at various attempts to bring these opposing discourses into a workable whole, concluding with a detailed examination of the divorce reform debates of the mid-twentieth century, and refuting the contention that divorce reform was fought for, and won, on behalf of women. Through an examination of the language and rhetoric expressed in a collection of private letters written by men during the 1960s, this study will demonstrate that men’s consumption of domestic and romantic narratives was as active and as enthusiastic as women’s, and that it was this participation which publicly altered perceptions of our most private relationships. By understanding historical processes in the context of narrative, and recognising men’s position within ‘feminine spaces’, this thesis claims that stories of domesticity, romance and divorce need to be retold.

Along the process of economic development, marriage patterns have gradually changed. Nonetheless, we still observe contrasting differences across regions. This thesis first examines those differences, and questions what determines those marriage patterns. The answer to this will be the economic role of women within a society. In this regard, we explore the relationship between gender differences in labour participation and marital outcomes across regions and over time. To do so, we use ethnographic evidence and country-decade data. Moreover, we reconcile distinctive literatures in an attempt to answer our main research question. The focus of the thesis lies within two specific issues regarding marriage patterns: (i) marital systems, namely polygyny and monogamy, and (ii) the spousal age gap. First, we examine the relationship between female labour participation and polygynous unions. Then, we concentrate on monogamy to explore the spousal age gap. In addition, we discuss our main findings and its implications for the long run. Whether societies have followed a similar path but at different speeds throughout history is our last topic of discussion.

This thesis draws on poststructuralism/postmodernism to present a feminist investigation into the human body, its modes of (self)identification, and its insertion into systems of bioethics. I argue that, contrary to conventional paradigms, the boundaries not only of the subject, but of the body too, cannot be secured. In exploring and contesting the closure and disembodiment of the ethical subject, I propose instead an incalculable, but nonetheless fully embodied, diversity of provisional subject positions. My aim is to valorise women and situate them within a reconceived ethics which takes account of the embodied feminine. My project entails an analysis and deconstruction of the binaries of those dominant strands of postEnlightenment thought that shape epistemology, ontology, and ethics, which in turn set the parameters of modern bioethics. More importantly, it goes on to reclaim a radical sexual difference beyond the binary, in which the female is no longer the other of the male. My enquiry, then, is strongly influenced by the discursive approach offered by both Foucault and Derrida in differential ways, but I counter their indifference to feminist concerns by qualifying their insights in the light of strategies developed by Irigaray and Spivak, among others. The main method of investigation has been through library research of primary and secondary sources in mainstream and feminist philosophy, and in bioethics. In addition, archival work in both textual and iconographic collections was carried out at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine. The contribution made by this thesis is to go beyond modernist feminisms - which would simply revise and add women into existing paradigms - to radically displace and overflow the mechanisms by which women are devalued. And in developing a postmodern critique around some issues in bioethics, I have suggested a new ethics of the body which precedes the operation of moral codes.