The over-arching theme of this thesis is the effects of parental background on children and the effectiveness of policies designed to improve the academic outcomes of socioeconomically disadvantaged students. The first chapter of this thesis explores the causal link between the education of one generation and that of their children by using IV to account for the endogeneity of parental education and paternal earnings. The second chapter evaluates the effectiveness of an intervention designed to improve the academic success at university of students from socio-economically disadvantaged families. The third and final chapter examines the potential issues in expanding a programme targeted at financially poorer students beyond its initial pilot phase. Chapter One addresses the intergenerational transmission of education and investigates the extent to which early school leaving (at age 16) may be due to variations in parental background. An important contribution of the chapter is to distinguish between the causal effects of parental income and parental education levels. Least squares estimation reveals conventional results – weak effects of income (when the child is 16), stronger effects of maternal education than paternal, and stronger effects on sons than daughters. We find that the education effects remain significant even when household income is included. However, when we use instrumental variable methods to simultaneously account for the endogeneity of parental education and paternal income, only maternal education remains significant (for daughters only) and becomes stronger. These estimates are consistent to various set of instruments. The impact of paternal income varies between specifications but becomes insignificant in our preferred specification. Our results provide limited evidence that policies alleviating income constraints at age 16 can alter schooling decisions but that policies increasing permanent income would lead to increased participation (especially for daughters). Chapter Two is an evaluation of a comprehensive university access programme that provides financial, academic and social support to low socioeconomic students using a natural experiment which exploits the time variation in the expansion of the programme across high schools. Overall, we identity positive treatment effects on retention rates, exam performance and graduation rates, with the impact often stronger for higher ability students. Gender differences are also identified. We find similar results for access students entering through the standard admissions system and those entering with lower grades. This suggests that access programmes can be effective at improving academic outcomes for socioeconomically disadvantaged students. In Chapter Three, we compare the effects of the pilot implementation and the subsequent national roll-out of a large programme, the Educational Maintenance Allowance, in the UK which provides financial transfers to youth who remain in post-compulsory education. While piloting policies is becoming standard in policy evaluation, little is known of their external validity. Using a difference-in-difference-in-differences methodology and several cohorts of the Youth Cohort Study for England and Wales, we estimate the effect of the Education Maintenance Allowance on post-compulsory school participation both in the piloting stage and in its national implementation. We find that the pilot scheme and the national extension had an effect on post-16 schooling but that the evidence in support of the national extension is weaker.

This dissertation examines the concept of artistic genius and its workings as a functional ‘charter myth’, helping to inscribe, enhance and perpetuate discriminative practices against women within the field of literature in general and novel writing in particular. As an active agent as well as symbolic representation of some core patriarchal values such as the innate supremacy and thus justified dominance of men, the concept of genius operates in the following manner: Firstly, through its multiple mythical elements such as the untruth of its affirmations surrounding creativity combined with a paradoxical ability to nevertheless produce evidence for its seeming accuracy; its inherent narrative structure featuring a prescribed genius hero and tale and the latter’s powerful mythical allure, all of which help to push the prominence of genius despite its continued academic deconstruction. Secondly, through the subtle yet powerful gendering of the protagonist and plot pattern it provides, containing a clear blue-print for a hero with a male body complemented or opposed by a subordinate, non-genius female. This gendered mythical pattern directly affects women writers in a variety of manners. On the one hand, it assists the lastingly biased reception of women authors, pre-imposing genius-inscribed beliefs of female inferiority onto literary judgments, thus cyclically perpetuating that belief. On the other – and most importantly for this thesis – the myth of genius also has an inward bearing on many female writers, impeding their creative process and development especially through the myth’s complex interaction with self-confidence as one of the core features necessary for a successful completion of literary projects such as novels.

This thesis examines lesbian costuming and dress in contemporary British and American film and television, offering analyses of sartorial constructions of gay female identities in modern media. It uses close textual analysis and interviews with producers and consumers to examine the production, texts, and reception of selected representations, outlining current social rituals of lesbian style. Interviews were held with Cynthia Summers, Lesley Abernethy, Niamh Morrison, Catherine Adair, Janie Bryant, Tina Scorzafava and Mary Claire Hannan about their designs. Spectators answered questions and responded to photographs and a transcript. The thesis argues that the modern-day designer of lesbian costuming is subject to a contradictory triangle of demands, encompassing the need for costume to support character, resistance to stereotypes, and the recognition and perceived positive politics of identifiable lesbianism. Chapters covering Lip Service and The L Word; Desperate Housewives, Deadwood, and Mad Men, and Gillery’s Little Secret and The Kids Are All Right examine differing results of these pressures. The thesis argues that while anxiety over ‘butch’ stereotypes and heteronormative mainstream demands for assimilation play a part in the overwhelming ‘femininity’ of many examples, an increase in lesbian visibility has also paradoxically instigated a shift away from specificity in media representations through dress because lesbianism is no longer seen as a ‘story’. It suggests that lesbian authorship and using real-life lesbian styles as costume inspiration may offer a way out of the stereotype vs. ‘authentic’ imagery impasse without erasing recognisably lesbian iconography. Finally, the thesis concludes that the production, text and reception of contemporary lesbian images at times comprises a complete circuit of communication, with production decisions and everyday practices of lesbian dress both echoing and informing one another.

The family plays an integral role in Hollywood films of almost every genre. Hollywood’s renditions of the American family, however, remain largely traditional and no longer reflect contemporary reality. This thesis explores how contemporary Hollywood deals with the family, posing the question: ‘Has Hollywood created its own monolithic family model?’ The thesis demonstrates that, rather than offering a solid monolithic family model, the Hollywood family displays a tension between traditional and liberal attitudes, wanting to move forward but unable to let go of the past. The thesis places Hollywood’s representations within a wider cultural framework, utilising social history, feminism and psychoanalytic discourses. This is done through three case studies exploring the nuclear family, and a fourth extended chapter that analyses Hollywood’s alternative families. Chapter One takes as its focus the father-daughter relationship in sequels and series. This relationship is symptomatic of a shift towards a new generation in Hollywood where masculinity is not necessarily the central concern. Although the father-daughter films indicate a renewed interest in women’s familial roles they essentially demonstrate a crisis of masculinity and a traditional, patriarchal model. Chapter Two analyses the mother’s role through the films of Meryl Streep. This chapter situates a discussion of the Hollywood mother within a postfeminist society and questions whether this new generation of Hollywood has promoted a diversification of the maternal role, finding that traditionalism still dominates as maternity and ‘traditional’ femininity remain central concerns. Chapter Three explores the superhero family. This unconventional family is a further symptom of Hollywood’s new generation. That said, the unconventional is used as a tool to promote the conventional – the nuclear family. Superheroics are used to recuperate dysfunctional families and provide an easy ‘fix’ for their troubles. Chapter Four examines the prevalence in contemporary Hollywood of alternative family models. Although these are many and varied, Hollywood’s alternative families (discussed here in terms of single-parents, divorce, gay and lesbian families, the working-class family and the Black American family), ultimately conform to the standards of the nuclear norm, giving further credence to the argument that Hollywood’s families are torn between traditionalism and attempts to embrace liberalism and diversity.

This thesis contributes a sociological perspective on the practice of feminist zine production and distribution in the UK. Feminist zines facilitate the development of ‘feminist zine subculture’, a trans-local subcultural space that centres on a relatively collectivised adherence to DIY feminist subjectivity. The main objective of the work is to show how this subculture is characterised by its own aesthetics, geographical organisation, internal politics and wider subcultural affiliations. Through the utilisation of an Integrated Textual Analysis (ITA) of 74 ‘feminist zines’, interviews with 29 zine creators, and on-site observations of zinefests, this work argues for a revised perspective on the study of subculture. Feminist zine creators’ recognition of the limited ways in which feminist history has been documented, and their investment in DIY lifestyles, motivates their involvement in the subculture. However, participants also embody ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ subjectivities within this space, meaning that many experience a form of ‘peripheral participation’, caused by their geographical location or the extent to which they subscribe to the dominant values of DIY subculture. This thesis situates the spatial negotiations, embodied subjectivities, and cultural production practices of the participants within a broader understanding of subculture as the product of multiple ‘fields of reference’. Utilising an adaptation of Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of ‘field’, ‘habitus’ and ‘capital’, this work develops ‘subcultural cartography’; a method of data presentation that shows how feminist zine subculture is internally characterised, and how this characterisation is influenced by a variety of different cultural fields. Ultimately, this work argues for a more nuanced perspective on how structural inequalities and hierarchies manifest within subcultures themselves.

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Lack of empowerment and the resulting inability to negotiate safe sex is identified in this thesis as a major factor promoting the spread of HIV infection among heterosexual Yoruba women in Nigeria, and my research also explored what kinds of interventions might deal with these problems. Currently, behavioural approaches represent the dominant ideology in the field of HIV prevention, with the focus on tackling the problem of lack of knowledge and awareness, and lack of commitment to prevention. The research investigated was whether these strategies are adequately sensitive to the experiences of women in Nigeria or fails to take account of how socio-cultural and economic forces constrain or enable them to adopt recommended sexual health behaviours. To explore these issues, respondent groups included low and high socio-economic status women, low and high socio-economic status men, local HIV/AIDS agencies and people living with HIV/AIDS. Using qualitative methods to elicit rich and deep data about how the respondents define their health behaviour in relation to HIV, sex practices and women’s empowerment, I conducted 29 in-depth interviews and six focus group discussions, involving 91 participants. There are two key findings. First, behavioural approaches to HIV prevention are limited because women’s inability to negotiate safe sex in heterosexual relationships reflects structural problems rather than an individual lack of knowledge or awareness. Women are more constrained by the fears of relationships breakup, economic insecurity, violence and the difficulty in being able to justify why they feel the need to insist on safe sex, as this is perceived as antithetical to trust in sexual relationships. Second, although women’s access to life opportunities can help, this does not automatically empower them to negotiate safe sex because of the widespread culture of patriarchy. Thus, structural approaches to HIV prevention among women need to do more than promote economic redistribution and access to formal education. Thus the study argues that policy and strategy on HIV prevention should not be confined to narrow individual-level interventions, but be informed by wider perspectives of how traditional gender stereotypes promote women’s disempowerment and run counter to safe sex practices in heterosexual relationships.

Since 9/11 and 7/7 the focus on Muslims as a subject of political, media and academic debate has intensified. Muslim women, who are critical to these various debates, are often essentialised and typified as casualties of Islam, and their voices are effectively silenced. This study, which ‘gives voice’ to the experiences of Muslim women, examines the ways in which Muslim women negotiate their religious identities and commitments in twenty-first century Britain through their engagement with artistic projects. Through a combination of semistructured interviews with twenty-six women and participant observation in a Muslim women’s arts organisation and nasheed group, it addresses three research questions each of which tries to cast sociological light on the intersection between artistic practice and identification with Islam. Firstly, it asks to what extent Durkheim’s notion of religion as la vie sérieuse helps to describe the beliefs, identities and practices of Muslim women. Secondly, it considers the extent to which, and manner in which, Muslim women’s artistic participation expresses selfidentification with religion and culture. Finally, it examines the implications of artistic participation for other areas of Muslim women’s lives. In responding to these questions, I draw upon literature on religion and identity, religious commitment, Islam and gender, and Islam and the arts. My analysis focuses on how religion and everyday life are entwined in the experiences of Muslim women and how these experiences problematise the idea of strict boundaries between the ‘sacred’ and ‘profane’. It highlights variety in the commitment and practice of Muslim women and how individualisation and choice are very much part of the variation in their religious lives. I consider how my participants negotiate their gendered, religious and cultural identities through artistic participation and show that Muslim women engage in performances, not only in their roles as artists, but also as they navigate the expectations or (cultural) scripts handed to them by their families and religious communities. I also highlight how re-presenting and representing Muslim women and Islam can be an important act for those engaging in artistic practices and how this activity demonstrates active agency in a public sphere that often excludes them.

Land in Kenya has social, economic and political dimensions, which overlap and conflict. Land conflicts are one of the root causes of political crises which the country has experienced since the formation of the modern state through colonialism. Although the link between land and politics has been much studied, the gender dimension has been neglected. Where it has been addressed within the women‟s land rights discourse there has been a failure to appreciate the multi-dimensionality of land, addressing only the economic implications from a gender perspective. As a result there is little analysis of the way in which women experience inequalities arising out of political processes which shape and influence Kenya‟s land system. In 2008, the Commission of Inquiry into Post Election Violence (CIPEV) reported various types of inequalities which women faced with regard to land, and which arose as a result of distributional land problems in the country. It raised for the first time the way in which gender and ethnicity intersected to produce the inequalities and disadvantages women experienced during the period of election violence. This thesis addresses this intersectionality. It argues that the nature of women‟s inequality with regard to land in Kenya is much broader than questions of rights of access, control and ownership and consequently that gender inequality relating to land is Kenya is mis-framed. It analyses the nature of this mis-framing and drawing on the fieldwork conducted within three communities argues that what is needed is a contextualised understanding of intersectionality. Such an understanding of intersectionality requires analyses of the interplay between law and politics, and how this interplay produces experiences of inequality and disadvantage amongst women.

The adequacy of the theory underpinning current careers guidance practice is increasingly being questioned for particular client groups, including girls and women. Key criticisms relate to the philosophy of science that has dominated the research informing these theories, neglect of context, bias in sampling procedures and their failure to take account of changes in the labour market. The research reported in this thesis explores some of the factors that inhibit women's career development in the UK, as well as some that enhance it, in a way that takes account of these criticisms. The focus is on both the theory and practice. Grounded theory informed the data collection and analysis phases of the research. Two questionnaires, the first of which was completed by one hundred and two participants, provided a progressive focusing of the study. In-depth interviews with nine of the female participants who had experienced discrimination in employment comprised the final stage of data collection. The research highlights, simultaneously, the similarities of the experiences of girls and women compared with boys and men, and the different ways girls and women responded to these experiences. Findings relate both to the contextual and individual factors that have influenced the career development of participants. Discrimination and sexual harassment emerge as important, and the strategies developed by participants to cope are identified. Perhaps most importantly, the research examines the lived experiences of women participants conveyed in their own voices. Implications for careers guidance practice are discussed. An accurate understanding of the context in which women's career development in the UK occurs is emphasised together with strategies which could improve guidance practice.