The study set out to answer two main questions: (a) what was the role of the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women (SPEW) - an organisation founded in 1859, still in existence today, but now known as the Society for Promoting the Training of Women (SPTW), in the evolution of clerical work as a suitable occupation for women; and (b) what continuities or discontinuities with nineteenth-century office employment could be identified in the experiences of women employed as clerical workers during the first half of the twentieth century? To answer the first question the author examined the archives of SPEW which are lodged at Girton College, Cambridge. The second question was addressed by contacting a small sample of women, the majority born between 1903 and 1925, who were willing to be questioned about their experiences of office work during the inter-war years. The research used a mixture of historiographic (archival analysis) and sociological (empirical) enquiry. It established that SPEW had played a pivotal role in opening up clerical employment to women; and demonstrated that early twentieth-century women had not capitalised on the efforts of those first-wave feminists even though office work was by then a major destination for women. Informants reported unequal pay, segregated workplaces, strictly-regulated social mores, and a patriarchal structure where women were concentrated in lower-level posts. These informants were content to view marriage and motherhood as their main 'career' in life. Chapters 1 and 2 describe the author's background, including how her interest in the research topic developed, the rationale for the research, and the ways in which the study was carried out. Building on previous research, the following two chapters establish the historical framework, the founding of SPEW, its members' links with the Langham Place circle, and the practical activities in which the Society was engaged. Chapter 5 describes the range of women's white-collar employment during the period under review. Chapter 6 presents empirical data relating to the sample of 21 twentieth-century women, and finally Chapter 7 reflects on the ways in which the research evolved, comparing the evidence from the two eras, and suggests further possibilities for research.

In this research I argue that although Islam as a faith is inherently emancipatory, Muslim women are doubly marginalised: by patriarchal interpretations of their faith within Muslim communities and by pluralist society that often does not understand the faith-based values and practices of Muslim women. The empowerment of Muslim women is crucial not just for the women themselves but also for socio-political dynamics within the Muslim community and its relationships in pluralist society. It is from this context, and acknowledging the paucity of academic literature written by Muslim women, that I set out to give voice to them, so that their opinions may be heard in discourses that they think are relevant to their lives. By encouraging Muslim women to take voice and by facilitating mechanisms for these voices to be heard, this research presents alternate narratives of Muslim women that challenge dominant media imagery of the oppressed and subjugated Muslim woman. These narratives, which are by and for Muslim women, portray instead the inherent diversity in the category 'Muslim woman' and thus add more facets to the category 'woman'. I used an ethnographic methodology that involved participants as contributors in the creation of new knowledge. Semi-structured interviews with 45 young university-educated Muslim women and 7 group discussions were used as initial data-gathering tools. The penultimate ethnographic stage involved Muslim women creating 3-minute long self-representational digital stories (DSTs), which consist of an autobiographical narrative accompanied by still pictures. This was a process of self-reflection for the women and an opportunity to take voice and to be heard. The subsequent screening of these DSTs to audiences who were not Muslim resulted in discussion and active debate about the reasons for prevalent (mis)understandings of Muslim women and stereotypes were challenged. In its initiation of more balanced representations of Muslim women this research empowers Muslim women, and by contributing to dialogue and cohesion it also empowers pluralist society as a whole. This research clarifies the overlapping priorities and identities of young British Muslim women and initiates new discourses, as narrated by the women, on subjects including religious interpretation and practice, feminism, media representation and social cohesion. In the research findings I propose an evolving British-Muslim identity among Muslim youth (in this case young women) which is distinct from that of their parents; a theological articulation of a 'feminist' struggle for women's rights; and the need to engage with the media and others to create positive representations of Muslim women. Experiences with DSTs indicate the potential of personal narratives and interaction for the purposes of inter-community dialogue.

The twin topics of interest to this thesis are the figure of the desirous virgin, as she appeared in Hollywood films around the cusp of the 1960s, and Doris Day, during the later evolution of her star persona around the time of Pillow Talk (Michael Gordon, 1959). An introductory section looks at important works from star studies and film history. Several texts from stereotype studies are also examined, both sections working to build up a methodology for the explorations of the virgin and Day which follow. Films which seem to constitute part of a distinct mini-cyle, the 'virginity dilemma' film, are then explored in detail, with their shared themes, narratives, characters, and, often, actors, examined. This cycle of films seems crossgeneric, with both comic and melodramatic entries produced. Furthermore, a generically-inspired rubric, dictating the physical performance of the virgin, emerges from comparison of the films. Here the comic virgin displays a buoyant comic body, her unruly kinesis indicative of energies not yet directed into sex. By contrast, the melodramatic virgin is always marked by a stillness and composure which may wax and wane through the film but will reach both its apogée and rupture at the moment when she capitulates to consummation. The final section looks at Doris Day's star persona as it emerged after Pillow Talk attempted to redefine her as a maturely sexual star. Subsequent films pathologized the qualities of maturity and sexuality, resulting in the creation of a coy aged virgin persona. Although actually performed only once, in Lover Come Back (Delbert Mann, 1961), this persona subsumed previous incarnations of the star, eventually leading to the decline of her active career and calcifying to become the dominant lasting memory of Day even now.

Increasing attention in the social science literature, particularly within the sociology of religion, psychology and gerontology is being given to the role of religion in the lives of older people. Moreover, research has repeatedly identified religion as a significant coping resource throughout human life. Through the use of the biographical narrative method of interviewing, and the subsequent thematic analysis of the data, this study focuses on the role of religious beliefs and practices in the life experiences of older men in two selected Saudi nursing homes. The research demonstrates the positive influence of religion on adjustment processes in later life in general and specifically on adjusting to life in a nursing home. The study shows that religion serves as an important thread of integration in older men's lives. As they grew older, the respondents in this research had become more religious and more involved in religious practices. The study found that religion was an important dimension in their everyday life. All of them had integrated religious beliefs and practices into their lives to help them respond positively to the difficulties which they experienced. Above all, they strongly believed that leading a religious (Islamic) life was their duty as Muslims and this would also lead to their being rewarded by God in the Hereafter, as they believed that a truly happy life would come after death. Based upon its findings, the study highlights the need to acknowledge the importance of religion in the social care provision for older people in Saudi Arabia, for example, in counselling, in social work provision in general and within residential homes for older men in particular.

This study was concerned with establishing why parents caring for a disabled child at home chose special schools. The method used was to survey parents of disabled children attending one of the three special schools run by the Acorn Society. The survey identified two themes. These being, that there was a gender differential suggesting that mothers were most closely involved with the care of disabled children and, that the decision to send a disabled child to a special school was measured and balanced. This was contrary to the pre-dominant view put forward in relevant literature, so, the research set out to identify the reality behind the choice of a special school. A qualitative approach was adopted using semi-structured interviews, focusing on the issues arising from the initial survey. The interview data demonstrated that mothers were the primary providers of care, support, and assistance, for disabled children living at home. Special schools, it was concluded, provided a level of emotional support and practical assistance, which went some way towards substituting for the absence of support from other sources. However, the situation has to be considered within the context of the twin movements of inclusive education and disability rights. The conclusion was made that there was little evidence to suggest that parents' needs would be met by their disabled child being included in mainstream education. However, it was also concluded that the present system of special education failed to meet the developmental needs of disabled children and young people. The two positions were seen as being diametrically opposed. A way forward was suggested which would, (a) offer the opportunity for disabled children and young people to acquire a positive identity, premised on the concept of disability as a unique culture, and would, (b) offer parents an appropriate level of support.

This thesis argues that representation is the embodiment of erotic thought. It does this by focusing on literary representations of the penetrated male body and challenging the standard approaches to masculine embodiment as a form of denial or absence: the male body - in its always already penetrated state - as a presence, though one which lurks behind representation. It argues that the (penetrated) male body is often characterised as a taboo the breaching of which is traditionally named 'feminine' or 'psychotic'. The dominant representation of this body links it with a chain of equivalences that binds it to a culturally abjected 'feminine paradigm'. Works by Huysmans, Baudelaire, Wilde, will demonstrate how the limits of the male body are mapped within a boundary that both excludes and necessitates an act of penetratioa But it also demonstrates the ways in which this taboo has been challenged. Schreber, Genet and Joyce play with that boundary, push those limits, suggesting that penetrability becomes a condition of the emergence of modern male subjectivity within the rubric of its own logic. For as much as the penetrated male body is marked by 'femininity' and 'psychosis', it in turn marks a discursive 'blind spot' which the thesis terms the 'behind', in order to highlight its links to the anus - a site of anxiety for masculinity. This articulation of a discursive aporia and corporeal liminality is shown to generate a specifically modern 'poetics'. This poetics will help to re-state a logic of the neither/nor as expressed by Derrida, Deleuze, Foucault and Kristeva, in particular. One major consequence of such conditionality is that thought must be seen as in a very real sense 'embodied', and that this process of embodying thought is predicated upon an eroticism that is subsequently denied. The 'behind' names that denial.

This thesis conducts a reconceptualisation of historical time as a means of reorienting feminist historiography and changing the ways that we construct and approach histories of feminism. Various feminist theorists have argued that feminist theory requires a multilinear, multidirectional model of historical time, to enable productive encounters and exchanges between past and present feminisms, and account for the coexistence of parallel, intersecting feminist trajectories. This is particularly crucial in light of the continuing dominance of the phasic ‘wave’ model of feminist history, which is bound to notions of linear succession and teleological progress, and severely curtails the ways in which diverse feminist histories can be mapped, understood and related to one another. However, whilst alternative, multilinear, multidirectional notions of historical time have been mooted, there is rarely any clarity or elaboration on what exactly what this might mean or how it might work. This, I suggest, is because ‘historical time’ is itself an under-investigated and under-articulated concept. My contribution in this thesis, therefore, is to offer a detailed study of historical time, which makes sense of the idea that historical time is multilinear and multidirectional. In the course of this investigation, I develop a ‘polytemporal’ model of historical time, arguing that historical time is generated through a mix of different temporalities and fields of time, including the ‘time of the trace’, ‘narrative time’, ‘calendar time’ and ‘generational time’. Analysing each of these ‘times’ in turn, the thesis offers a thorough and internally complex account of historical time, demonstrating how thinking history ‘polytemporally’ can work, and how historical time can be understood as multilinear and multidirectional. Further, it offers concrete suggestions as to how this reconceptualised model can translate into a more nuanced and effective feminist historiographical practice, which opens up conversations between past and present feminisms in order to positively transform our presents and futures.

This thesis is divided into three main chapters. The first chapter provides an analysis of intergenerational mobility across countries, across cohorts and over the income distribution. It compares the patterns of intergenerational income mobility between fathers and sons in Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. Among other findings, the analysis highlights that mobility is lowest for families at the extremes of the income distribution. Among university graduates, mobility is still lowest at the top. This calls for further research on the drivers of intergenerational mobility. The second chapter investigates why intergenerational earnings mobility is lowest at the top and at the bottom, by exploring the role of social networks. The implications of a simple model are tested on data from the United Kingdom. The inverse U-shaped mobility patterns are explained in two steps. First, a range of findings is consistent with the hypothesis that family friends affect the offspring’s educational and occupational choices. Second, the friend’s job is correlated to the parent’s job, in different ways at different income levels. Specifically, the richest and the poorest parents tend to have friends that are more similar to them than median parents. The third chapter examines the effects of job polarization on individuals and households by assessing the roles of occupational mobility, changes in occupational wage premia, mating patterns across occupations and female labour supply. The paper uses the British Household Panel Survey to examine the UK over 1991-2008. The findings suggest that most of the factors listed above have important roles. The period is characterised by pronounced movements in occupational premia and important roles for occupational mobility and assortative matching.

The aim of this study is to explore the lives and identities of gay Arab Muslim men living in the U.K., a group that has not been specifically or exclusively researched in any previous study within the British context. The thesis aims to demonstrate how various identities such as sexuality, race, ethnicity, gender and social class intersect with each other within three different contexts: in an intra-personal context, in the context of relationships with family and kin, and in the context of interactions in white-dominant gay and non-gay spaces. The thesis investigates the outcomes of these intersections and how these outcomes are managed and negotiated. The study’s epistemology aligns in a broad sense with feminist epistemological approaches in making subjugated voices and marginalised experiences heard. A qualitative research methodology is adopted involving individual interviews with 35 men. Intersectionality is utilised as a theoretical framework, and the thesis asserts that concepts such as intra-categorical and inter-categorical intersectionality are extremely useful for achieving an in-depth understanding of the complexities and nuances of the lived experiences and identities of these men, illustrating both the diversity of experience subsumed within supposedly homogeneous ethnic categorisations, and uncovering how these men’s interlocking identities may be characterised by experiences of multiple discriminations, including homophobia, racism and Islamophobia.

An examination of the employment situations of West Indian, white and Asian women waged workers in Britain reveals both shared characteristics and ethnic differences. My research considers the main similarities and differences and assesses the significance of four major determinants of women's employment options. Gender divisions within the labour market, state and employers' policies towards working mothers, cultural differences in the interpretation of gender roles and the ideology of parentcraft, and racial discrimination are examined. My analysis derives from an examination of existing literature and my own empirical research which was conducted during 1978 and 1979 In the Handsworth area of Birmingham. My research consists of a study of childcare facilities, a survey of local employment opportunities, which was conducted by means of interviews with major employers and follow-up enquiries in response to job vacancy advertisements, and semi-structured taped interviews with 31 West Indian, 22 Asian and 16 white mothers. Previous approaches to women's employment fail to recognise differences between women and do not sufficiently consider the relationship between the structure of the labour market and the role of women within the family. My research provides substantive evidence of the relationship between women's role in the family and their role in production, and demonstrates variations in the employment and family situation of women of different ethnic origins and the influence of state and employers' policies. I show that while a worker's gender is more significant than ethnic origin in determining their employment situation, ethnic differences must also be considered. Cultural variations in the interpretation of gender roles, and the ideology of motherhood, have a significant impact on the proportion of women who engage in paid labour, and the number of hours worked, while racial discrimination influences the type of work performed and the level of unemployment experienced by black workers.