This thesis traces the history of Anglo-Australian racial science between 1850 and 1960, and examines evolving anthropological constructions of interracial marriage, as a lens through which we can re-evaluate gold rush histories and changing attitudes to East Asian migration throughout the British World, the British Empire’s geo-political relationship with China and Japan, and the transnational dissemination and contestation of the ‘‘yellow peril’’ trope. By decentring the histories of racial science and the British Empire from their North Atlantic moorings, and looking to anxious perceptions of East Asians emanating from antipodean Britons of the ‘global south’, the thesis builds a more trans-hemispheric narrative of the rise and fall of racial thinking. It does this by utilising two case studies. One examines the Sydney geographer Professor Griffith Taylor’s interwar problematisation of the White Australia Policy and the ‘transnational biopolitics’ of Asian immigration restriction in the Anglosphere, through his positive pronouncements about Eurasian intermarriage. Secondly, analysing the latter career of outcast former Kings College London racial scientist Professor Reginald ‘Ruggles’ Gates, and his ‘race crossing’ research in 1950s Australia and Japan, the thesis complicates histories of the global decline of racial thinking and survival of marginal scientific racists after the fall of Nazism.

2005 saw the closure of the car factory that was once economically, socially and culturally central to Longbridge, Birmingham. Following this, this thesis examines how the Church communicates the Gospel there. Employing practical theological methodology, a case study approach exploring the practice of two local churches using ethnographic methods is offered. An account of their practical theologies and their significance for God's mission in Longbridge is given. Data analysis revealed that, over many years, 'post-industrial' Longbridge had lost its heart and sense of place, wrestled with belonging locally and faced future uncertainty. The local Anglican church uses incarnational theology which views locality as the arena for God's purposes, and counter-culturally preserves local identity amidst deconstructive post-industrial forces. The local Methodist church emphasizes the 'social holiness' of Godself, providing multiple ways to belong and reviving relatedness between local residents. This thesis demonstrates the complexities of shaping a practical theology within a rapidly-changing, destabilised environment, whilst claiming the importance of locally-based church practice. Although the churches cannot offer blueprints for ecclesial life, their comparative experiences indicate principles for a practical theology of local churches in post-industrial communities, based upon vulnerability, commitment to presence and a conscious seeking to serve God's mission afresh.

Caribbean communities in Britain are known for the high religiosity of their people, and yet as ‘popular’ as the Church appears to be, there is at the same time an over-representation of many in the criminal justice, mental health and social care systems. This thesis takes a new approach to examining the effectiveness of the Church in their lives; rather than examine its belief systems and rituals, it looks at the worship and personal experience of Baptists, the oldest inherited Christian denomination, through the lens of culture. It reveals through practices and experiences, that British Caribbean Christians continue to maintain an allegiance to inherited missionary prejudices against Caribbean culture, enforced by leaders, through a system of social stratification, resulting in self-loathing, alienation and dislocation. They are a people who respect biblical stories and particularly the story of the Exodus, which gives meaning to not just their religious, but social and political lives. This thesis theologically reflects on that story, reframing it to demonstrate that Moses is indeed to be celebrated, but not simply as one who leads God’s people out of Egypt, but to the Promised Land; being a successful prototype of a leadership founded on cultural inclusion.

Muslim women in Britain are the only religious group of women more likely to be economically inactive than active, this has been the case since the onset of large-scale migration of Muslim women to Britain from the 1960s. This thesis aims to examine and explain the persistent presence of Muslim women in the looking after home category of economic inactivity, over time and generation. A new system of state benefit payments is being rolled out across the UK; Universal Credit is likely to lead to changes in household economies and the ways in which Muslim women engage with the labour market. Qualitative research into economic inactivity has remained remarkably static over the years. This contrasts with the contemporary and vibrant field of quantitative studies of ethnic and religious inequalities in the labour market. This study applies a systematic mixed methods research approach, where both qualitative and quantitative paradigms are given equal weight at all stages. The quantitative component of the study involved multivariate analysis of the EMBES 2010 dataset. This analysis fed into the design of a qualitative phase of research which was undertaken over a period of nine months in an area of high Pakistani density. The study of labour market outcomes for Muslim women is made complex because of the layering of disadvantage and discrimination based on migrant status, gender, and social class as well as race, ethnicity and religion. This thesis attempts to engage with this complexity to describe and understand the interplay of structural and socio-cultural factors that lead to high levels of economic inactivity in the looking after home category. Evidence is found for both inter and intragenerational shifts and changes. Recently-arrived first generation women are the most marginalised within families, co-ethnic communities and labour markets - both in the mainstream and in the enclave.

To what extent is British African Pentecostal Megachurch (BAPMC) a postmodern phenomenon, and has APMC influenced the western Pentecostal worship style in any way? The plethora of literature on Megachurches reveals a gap in knowledge about African Pentecostal Megachurch (APMC) worship and its influences, especially within the UK. Consequently, there is a need to research if the APMC worship concept is a postmodern phenomenon. This study seeks to investigate and determine if there is any influence and to what extent the African Pentecostal Megachurch is a postmodern phenomenon. To determine this, the study examines early African religion, missionary Christianity, African Instituted Churches, African Pentecostalism, transmigration and African immigration, the Black Church, African Diaspora and the Megachurch to give an understanding of African worship concept in comparison to what is obtainable today. A research methodology peculiar to this study was adopted, which involved using four APMCs in London as case studies to generate sufficient data to answer the research question along with existing literature and research projects by Megachurch experts. This study used the western contemporary culture (WCC) as a lens to view how these APMCs worship today compared to the African early worship styles and establishes that a relationship exists between the WCC and the APMCs’ worship concept; that WCC has influenced the APMC worship concept. Likewise, the western Pentecostal worship style has been influenced by African Pentecostal worship features. Throughout this thesis, the phrases ‘postmodernism’ and ‘WCC’ will be used interchangeably.

The British army officer commissioned from the ranks had become a rare and politically contested phenomenon in the years leading up to the First World War. This research addresses a previously unexamined phenomenon; how the conflict saw almost 10,000 commissions awarded to soldiers from the ranks of the pre-war British Army, and over 7,000, of these were ‘permanent’, constituting 42 per cent of regular army commissions. This was deeply threatening to the identity of gentleman-officers that had embedded a culture of gentlemanliness parsed into the rules and behaviours that governed army life and the homo-social space of the officers’ mess. This investigation shows the emergence of the ranker officer identity, progressively defined during the war through a process of Othering in terms of socio-cultural differences, particularly presentation and speech. The post-war officer class resumed its pre-war social and cultural character, maintaining its exclusivity and ethos and the ranker officer was increasingly caricatured in the discourses surrounding regimental officering and Englishness. The ranker officer, is fully examined for the first time in this thesis and this examination crucially informs our understanding of the persistence of an elite through the continuing gentlemanly appropriation of British army officer identity.

This study investigates the very popular Urdu women's magazines and their readership, to find out what images of Pakistani life and values the digests promote, who reads them, and whether there is evidence that this vision influences the readers for good or ill. The study involves a content analysis of 30 issues of the digests for the past seven years, a thematic analysis of interview with five editors/producers of the digest and 21 of their readers, and a survey of 308 Urdu speakers - including both avid and non-readers of the digests. The individual and group interview with readers and non-readers provide further explanation of the choice and possible impact of reading digests. The findings show the digests as very conservative, intolerant of romance outside marriage, with no portrayal of alternative life styles, and a largely unsympathetic portrayal of western women and values - although there are some interesting tensions in the images used for the revenue-generating advertisements. The readers are generally moderate Muslims, who read the digests to pass time, for enjoyment, or to learn more about something meaningful to their lives. Regular digest readers are likely to have more leisure time than self-reported non-readers or occasional readers, and are also more likely to seek other entertainment via TV and films. Intriguingly, both the regular and non-readers have very similar values and ideals in their life - about relationships and religion, for example. Therefore, the digests appear to be 'mental chocolate', with no evidence here of insidious influence from the continuously conservative portrayal of Muslim women. If so, and if editors and publishers of these digests accept that this is so, then they can afford to offer their readers a greater variety of 'flavours', particularly by adding a more rounded liberal view of Pakistani women, and of women more generally. This finding has lessons for the conduct and validity of past and future research in this area. Where this study differs from the 'established wisdom' of prior research, it is largely because it compares the views of readers with non-readers, whereas most studies only consider readers, and because it looks at textual content, the intent of the text producers, and the reactions of the readers in one study.

In Ghana Neo-charismatic Churches are non-denominational mainly indigenously founded churches that propagate the Prosperity Gospel to their followers. Drawing on a symbolic interaction framework this study explores adherent (church member) perspectives on how they construct the link between the Prosperity Gospel and their own prosperity (social mobility). Symbolic interaction concepts of symbols, meanings and reflected appraisals are employed in the analysis. In all six symbolic categories: the mainstream, automatic, transcendent, pragmatic, founding father and member networks plus fifteen symbolic constructions arising from these categories are identified. These symbolic categories and constructions are employed in the meanings that adherents attribute to social mobility, the actions that they engage in and in the formation of their self-concepts through reflected appraisals. The analysis shows that these categories and constructions inform adherent attitudes and actions towards social mobility.

Using social constructionist approaches this thesis aims to explore the perceptions/expectations/experiences of father-daughter relations in Taiwanese immigrant families living in Britain. Six Taiwanese father-daughter pairs formed the sample. Semi-structered interviews were the main method used to collect information about the participants' perceptions/understandings/experiences. The data was subject to qualitative content analysis which revealed three key findings. These were: 1. Taiwanese immigrant fathers experiences tensions in the process of fathering their daughters to be indeoendent and pursue success in their careers. But deeply held traditional views on monitoring/protecting their daughters led them display behaviours that suggested a desire to control them. These 'mixed messages' created tensions in father-daughter relationships. 2. British-Taiwanese daughters' constructions of daughterhood produced tensions too:their experiences were akin to those of the majority of young women living in western societies who delay motherhood and pursue success at work. However, traditional expectations of daughters to prioritise family responsibilities and show obedience to their parents sets up conflicts both on father-daughter relations and their own personal choices. 3.Father-daughter relationships in Taiwanese immigrant families living in Britain are one where the expectation and practices of conventional fathers and daughters marks relationships daughters' life stages.

Many scholars have addressed the important role that guanxi plays in the Chinese social-economic system. Guanxi is widely accepted in academia as an indigenous construct from China-deeply rooted in Chinese culture and reflected in the behaviour of Chinese people in both the social and institutional environment. During the growing globalisation of Chinese multinational companies, Chinese expatriates have increasingly taken up international assignments and inevitably carried Chinese guanxi to the host country. Research on guanxi in China has been intense. However, how the employees of Chinese multinational companies employ guanxi in the West, how Chinese expatriates develop and use guanxi in the host country, and how these behaviours affect their adjustment remain unclear. My dissertation contributes to this line of study in three ways. I first examined guanxi capitalism theoretically to highlight the features of China's economic system embedded deeply in its cultural-social-political environment and to explore how guanxi emerged, evolved, and subsequently dominated the economic system in China. Based on this analysis, I developed a conceptual framework of the "Guanxi capitalism structure" to illustrate the fundamental role of guanxi as the "invisible hand" in China. Next, I examined empirically how guanxi practice affects intra-firm multicultural group dynamics involving Chinese expatriates, host-country nationals, and host-country Chinese in Chinese multinationals. My study shows how expatriates actively practice guanxi with their homeland counterparts, but they do not do so with host-country nationals and host-country Chinese, and it explores the implications of these dynamics. Finally, I examined the impact of guanxi building on Chinese expatriate adjustment. Based on my analysis, I developed a process model that illuminates that guanxi development alters expatriates' adjustment curve significantly. My findings contribute more generally to shed light on cross-cultural management in terms of Chinese guanxi practice and the process of initiating, building, and utilizing guanxi in the Western context.