This thesis investigates gendered power relations, including violence, control and coercion, within teenage heterosexual relationships, and broader relationship cultures. It focusses on upper-middle class 14-16 year olds, whose sexualities – unlike those of working-class teenagers – are seldom seen as a social problem. It explores the interactions of romantic and sexual experiences with classed identities and social contexts, based on data generated within a large, high-performing state comprehensive in an affluent, ethnically homogenous (white) area of south-east England. The research, conducted in and outside school, used a mixed-methods approach, incorporating in-depth individual and paired interviews, and self-completion questionnaires. It draws on insights from feminist post-structural approaches to gender and sexualities, and is situated in relation to work that explores the negotiation of gender in “post-feminist” neoliberal societies. Despite (in some ways, because of) their privileged class positioning, these young people faced conflicting regulatory discourses. Heteronormative discourses, and gendered double standards, still shaped their (sexual) subjectivities. Sexuality was very public and visible, forming a claustrophobic regulatory framework restricting movements and choices, particularly girls’. But inequalities and violences were often obscured by powerful classed discourses of compulsory individuality, with young people compelled to perform an autonomous self even as they negotiated inescapably social networks of sexuality. These discourses could exacerbate inequalities, as participants denigrated others for vulnerability. A significant proportion of participants reported controlling, coercive or violent relationship experiences, but girls especially downplayed their importance. Girls shouldered the burden of emotion work, taking on responsibility for both their own and partners’ emotions. Sexual harassment and violence from peers were often regarded with resignation, and sometimes led to further victimisation from partners or peers. Policing of sexuality was bound up with classed prejudices and assumptions; participants’ performances of identity often rested on dissociation from the working class. Young middle-class people’s heterosexual subjectivities sat uneasily with educationally successful, future-oriented subjectivities; sexuality was an ever-lurking threat to becoming an educational and therefore classed success.

The financial burden arising from expenditure on housing is associated with the income and housing problems of low-income households. This research examines the effectiveness of housing allowance in solving these problems and thus achieving social and housing policy objectives, i.e. improving income maintenance, enhancing housing affordability and providing work incentives. It also explains how the various institutional features of housing allowance systems make changes in achieving different policy objectives. Taking into account the fact that housing allowance programmes operate alongside other institutions of the welfare state that vary among countries, this research compares the effectiveness of housing allowances in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden and South Korea using five indicators−Residual income after rent payment, Poverty rate, Rent to Income Ratio, Income Replacement Ratio and Effective Marginal Tax Rate. The findings show that housing allowance is an effective policy instrument across countries in the following ways. First, it contributes to the improvement in residual income after housing costs and the decrease in poverty rates among low-income tenants. Second, the housing allowance reduces the financial burden arising from expenditure on rent. Third, in contrast to the positive effects of housing allowances in improving income and housing problems, their provision as part of in-work benefit relates to the increase in work disincentives indicating the higher possibility of working-poor tenants being trapped in unemployment and poverty. Fourth, despite variations in the features of the welfare and housing regime, the design of the benefit arrangement explains many of the differences in the effectiveness of housing allowance in the four countries. Fifth, subsidising a great share of housing costs is an important factor related to the improvement in income maintenance and housing affordability. Sixth, basing the provision of housing allowance on actual rent is also essential in solving the income and housing problems of low-income tenants. Findings relating to the institutional feature of housing allowance are the basis for the recommendation that the Korean housing allowance system should be reformed to reflect a household’s actual need.

This thesis is a study of the attitudes towards women's enfranchisement, and involvement within the British women's suffrage movement, of the male members of the Independent Labour Party, a mixed sex socialist organisation. The period covered ranges from 1893, the year of the party's foundation, to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. The aim of this study is to contribute to our understanding of a hitherto neglected aspect of suffrage history: the male supporters. Suffrage historians have generally considered Independent Labour Party men's attitudes towards women's enfranchisement to have been positive: their ideas and activities are now placed under careful scrutiny. The theoretical underpinnings of the thesis lie in gender history, most especially in the field of historical studies of masculinities, which in themselves have been informed by the ideas and writings of women's history. Independent Labour Party men are viewed not as a group of individuals with certain physical characteristics in common, but as sharing gendered identities as socialists and as men, which influenced their attitudes towards the roles deemed appropriate for men and women within society, and towards women's emancipation in particular. Furthermore, the thesis assesses how their ideas and identities were themselves challenged by developments within the suffrage movement. Chapter 1 considers the years between 1893-5, a period characterised by few formal links between Independent Labour Party men and the suffrage movement, and assesses how supportive attitudes towards women's enfranchisement fitted into prevailing understandings of socialism and independent labour representation. Chapters 2 and 3, focusing respectively on the periods between 1895-1905, and 1905-1911, consider the impact of a burgeoning suffrage movement, active within the ranks of the labour movement itself, and characterised by its own priorities, objectives and tactics. Chapter 4, dealing with the years between 1911-1914, concludes by assessing Independent Labour Party men's responses to a shift in the suffrage debate, as the introduction in Parliament of adult suffrage became a practical proposition.

From mid-2006 to 2010 grassroots perspectives of Acholi people in Northern Uganda followed Non-Governmental Organisations’ roles in post-war social recovery. For over 20 years of war between the Lord’s Resistance Army and Uganda Government, displacement and home-returns, Acholi people relied on NGOs. This study explores how far NGOs can transform and rebuild social authority structure and support social reconciliation in Acholiland. Using a qualitative methodology, Acholi returnees’ views were triangulated with those of NGOs, Government officials and relevant actors following grassroots perceptions on roles NGOs played. From this study, NGOs play participatory political and social roles at grassroots level; fail to address the root causes of conflicts. The contentious NGO roles involve a separation of inflated expectations from what is achievable. Social realities of Acholi people are in theory and ideally over-ridden by practical NGOs’ levels, typologies, activities, budgets, policies and codes of conducts. NGOs played key roles in the interlocution and encouragement of a discourse for rebuilding Acholi lineage-based authority without middle-class elites that links grassroots population. With NGOs’ withdrawal from post-war reconstruction, Acholi remained in a weak social authority and loose social bonding with lesser meaning and reality of social reconciliation. With raised disappointments on NGOs, Acholi people are stuck between a rock and hard place in respective villages.

The following study has three principle aims and objectives: 1) understand how the police deal with ‘Burglary other Building’ incidents; 2) appreciate which investigative activities and operations undertaken lead to the successful detection of these BOB incidents; 3) assess the scope for adjusting existing investigative operational procedures into crimes classified by the police as ‘Burglary other Building’, or non-residential burglary, with a view to boosting detections. The research was based on a sample drawn from a population of 7070 ‘burglary other building’ incidents recorded by West Midlands Police over a six month period between April 1st and September 31st 1998. The study made use of both contemporaneous primary, and secondary sources of data. The primary data was provided by police officer questionnaires, whilst the secondary data was collected from police records and databases. The police solved a significant minority of cases (15.3%). The police were found to use a number of diverse methods to achieve this success. The principle means of detection were the arresting of offenders at or near the scene and the use of evidence gathered at the scene either through the questioning of individuals or through SOCO examination. Allied to this, more proactive investigative techniques proved useful in the investigative process. There appear, however, to be a number of areas that may still offer some scope for improvement.

This thesis aimed to investigate the cognitive, affective and social-psychological correlates of primary (selfish, uncaring) and secondary (reckless, prone to boredom) psychopathic traits. The results of Chapter 2 indicate that both primary and secondary psychopathic traits are associated with reduced empathic functioning. These results were supported by findings from Chapter 3, which suggest that elevated levels of secondary psychopathic traits may be linked with a lack of generosity for the out-group, but pro-social sentiment for the in-group. Chapter 4 used eye tracking to examine the cognitive mechanisms underlying empathic functioning and showed that primary psychopathic traits were linked with abnormal eye scan paths during an expression recognition task, indicated by reduced dwell time on the eye region of emotional faces. Chapter 5 further examined emotion recognition in an offending sample and revealed poor fearful face recognition among sexual and violent offenders. Furthermore, primary psychopathic traits were linked with greater impairment in fearful face recognition. Taken together, these findings show that primary and secondary psychopathic traits are linked with different patterns of performance on psychological tests. These results support the view that the variance accounted for by these traits should be considered separately in research and in clinical practice.

Customer orientated reforms have been widely adopted for improving service delivery. However, the introduction of these reforms in the public sector is still little understood; and the literature is pessimistic regarding their application in the public sector in developing countries. To further understand the relevance of customer orientated reforms in developing countries, this study assessed their performance when implemented by the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC), which is in charge of urban water supply in Uganda. Using multiple data sources, including household user surveys and interviews, the study posed the questions: Has the NWSC become more customer-oriented as a result of reforms? If so, what are the consequences for user satisfaction and loyalty? The study finds first that customer oriented reforms in the NWSC were introduced by a committed leadership which reduced resistance to change and coordinated key stakeholder involvement. Second, it finds that the reforms contributed to improved water accessibility, affordability and customer care. Third, it finds that increased provider responsiveness to complaints correlates with increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. Since the study focused on users with home water connections, further research is needed to assess how similar the results would be for poorer non-connected users and commercial and institutional users.

This thesis addresses the lack of literature on rural youth employment prospects. Using data from the British Household Panel Survey and fieldwork conducted in the West Midlands, I ask to what extent is rural location a labour market disadvantage for young people? Social capital, identified as a pertinent concept in the few previous studies, is operationalised in terms of two constituent elements: norms, affecting youth earnings, and networks, determining one’s ability to find work – more so in rural areas than in urban, due to the relative absence of big business, and nepotistic recruitment practices. Transport is also a more significant barrier to employment for rural youth. I find that rural youth earn less than urban counterparts despite rural wages being higher overall. This pay penalty is a distinctly rural youth disadvantage, and can last well into adulthood for those who do not relocate to urban areas. In conclusion, I argue that investment in rural jobs and public transport or vehicle lease schemes would improve rural youth employment prospects. If such investment is not forthcoming, relocation schemes might extend opportunities to those willing to migrate for work.

This research investigates the changes in the operations of CHSs (Christian health services) in developing countries, particularly their funding bases, relationships with their respective governments, and the extent to which these have resulted in changes to the socioeconomic characteristics of their users. Three main areas of study are woven together: the history of medical mission, health service management and its response to the pressures of the last half-century, and the role of non-state providers in a comprehensive health care system. Evidence was assembled from interviews with officials of twelve UK based mission organisations, a survey of CHSs in thirteen countries, and case studies of CHS provision in Malawi and India based mainly on extensive interviews with selected stakeholders. The research confirmed that funds received by CHSs from mission organisations have declined and are now more often in the form of project funding. CHSs have, for the most part, continued to provide services for the poor in a variety of ways: first, by providing low cost services; second, by developing hi-tech tertiary services, the profits from which subsidise services for the poor; and third, by working more collaboratively with governments, for which they receive varying degrees of financial and other support.

This thesis examines infection control practice in Scottish hospitals in the early years of the ‘antibiotic era’, from approximately 1928 to 1970. Hospital infection and its control has, in recent years, received increasing attention from historians. But there is a notable absence of work uncovering the details of infection control practice, particularly in Scottish institutions in the 20th century. Thus, this thesis provides a comprehensive study of practice, influenced by Erwin Ackerknecht’s behaviourist predication. Using case studies, it explores how concerns about infection and its control were manifest in the daily work of clinicians, nurses and bacteriologists, over an especially important 42-year period, at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. This study utilises an extensive range of sources. These include, but are not limited to: hospital administrative records, ward journals, case notes, films, architectural plans, lecture notes, medical textbooks, correspondence and the medical literature. It also draws on oral history interviews, using both existing collections and carrying out new interviews. Infection control practices between 1928 and 1970 were constantly evolving, adapting and refined. Concerns about infection and its control were generally of paramount importance to clinicians, nurses and bacteriologists, although, for a brief period after about 1948, some clinicians developed relatively lax attitudes towards infection in light of the increasing popularity of antibiotics. In the years before antibiotics, a multitude of methods were adopted to control or prevent hospital-acquired infections. These infections were manifest in numerous forms, from burns infections to post-operative tetanus. Sulphonamides represented a modest advance over other, more traditional treatments. When penicillin appeared during WWII, it prompted numerous investigations into its cultivation and possible uses, and it found an important application in treating a vast range of conditions, from wound infections to burns and osteomyelitis. Penicillin was deployed in various ways and, in Glasgow, new aseptic techniques were introduced to complement it. Preparing and administering penicillin became an important part of routine nursing work, work which was, in many ways, imperative to infection control. But the drug’s shortcomings – of which bacterial resistance was one – were evident from the beginning. After 1948, antibiotics became the mainstay of hospital infection control and the methods by which they were used became increasingly diverse. For a short while, for some clinicians, infection and its control represented less of a problem than before. But growing infection rates in the 1950s, particularly late in that decade, prompted renewed enthusiasm ii for new methods for its control. Antibiotics were gradually used with greater restraint. Laboratory work expanded into new areas and the work of new infection control committees and new sterilisation procedures led to heightened standards of asepsis in the clinic. Changes in the education and daily work of nurses also had important implications for infection control. This thesis also adds new perspectives to debates within the historiography of hospital infection and its control and within the wider medico-historical literature. In the years from 1928 to 1970, methods of control became increasingly uniform not only between hospitals, but also within hospitals. This was especially the case from the late 1950s, owing largely to the work of new infection control committees and new systems for sterile supply. Hospital bacteriologists gradually became authorities on infection control, but they had been important at the beginning of the period and had influenced methods for infection management, in both the laboratory and the clinic, throughout the period. Largely in connection with infection control, the daily work of nurses and perceptions of their work changed considerably and generally for the better. Changes in nurse education and a reconfiguration of their daily duties allowed nurses to carry out increasingly stringent aseptic techniques. This contributed to changing perceptions of their work and expertise. Senior nurses played key roles on infection control committees and in central sterile supply facilities, influencing how infection control was practised on the ground level. There is a strong relationship between strategies for infection control and hospital economics. Supply issues and, in later years, concerns about hospital expenditure both exerted a great influence on methods for infection control and vice versa, and they often influenced the success of those methods. 20th-century military conflict led to positive progress in infection control. Both World Wars and, to a lesser degree, military cooperation following the Suez Crisis, provided the impetus for new anti-infection treatments and techniques which still found application in peacetime. WWII also provided opportunities, not least for bacteriologists, for important clinical research. The founding of the NHS in 1948 greatly influenced the landscape of hospital infection and its control. The increasing demand for hospital care and pressures on infrastructure largely explain the growing rates of infection in the early years of the new service, while these pressures also influenced the shape that new strategies for infection control took.