yes / The conference Participation and Community Cohesion in the North: making the connections was held two and a half years after the North of England experienced a summer of major social unrest.1 One delegate described these disturbances as `attempted suicide by a community ¿ a cry for help.¿ This is a controversial image of powerlessness and disenfranchisement, but it raises a question that goes to the heart of our reasons for holding this conference. Does the success of Community Cohesion depend on the ability of communities to nonviolently express their views on the issues that concern them? Does it depend on a belief in one¿s own power to effect change without violence? In other words does it depend on the extent to which people see a point in working together for goals they have set themselves?

This study uses 1996 General Social Survey data to examine potential social psychological mediators, suggested by equity theory and research on distress, of the relationship between social structure and anger. A broader social structure and personality approach to anger is compared with the equity and stress models proposed. Among social structural locations, anger varies only by age when other social characteristics are controlled in OLS regressions. Frequency of anger declines with age. No direct relationship between anger and gender, ethnicity, education, income, or marital or parental statuses is evident. However, the tendency to express anger is associated with more frequent anger. Equity beliefs about gender and individualism do not significantly affect anger. However, the belief that others cannot be trusted is positively related to anger and mediates the relationship between age and anger. Similar to findings related to distress, both self-efficacy and social integration suppress anger. As suggested by the social structure and personality approach, combining cultural factors, such as beliefs, and proximal influences, such as social and personal resources, explains more of the relationship between social structure and anger than either an equity or stress model alone. Mistrust and self-efficacy together explain more variation in the frequency of anger than either alone. In this study, social disadvantage does not directly predict anger. Because anger is prevalent in work and family relationships, the relationship between age and anger may be explained by age-graded changes in work and family roles (Schieman 1999). However, this would not explain the lack of variation in anger by other structural locations in which social disadvantage likely affects work and family relationships. The social psychological factors that have the most significant effect anger in this study (mistrust and self-efficacy) vary by ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Were it not for greater mistrust and lower self-efficacy, blacks and the socioeconomically disadvantaged would be angry significantly less often than whites and those of higher socioeconomic status. These findings suggest that expectations and perceptions of control, shaped by in-group comparisons and experience and which vary by social structural location, may affect anger. / Ph. D.

In this thesis, socio-spatial processes regarding the distribution of transport infrastructures are investigated and the ways in which inequalities occur as a result of these processes are discussed. The transport system of Istanbul and particularly, the Istanbul Metro, the first modern subway of the city, has been the focus of this research. In order to understand inequalities in transport, social and spatial justice theories have been employed. Discussions have been extended in order to include different approaches to the issues of transport inequality from various disciplines such as geography, sociology and urban planning. In this sense, this study is multi-disciplinary. Debates on land rent theory, space and power, gendered mobilities, social exclusion and the right to the city are among the many concerns that formed the main arguments of this research. In this thesis, transport is taken as a fixed, an immobile commodity that produces mobile and dynamic commodities such as mobilities and flows. Through such interaction socio-spatial processes are produced which may or may not consist of inequalities. Issues related to inequalities are deconstructed in the literature review in order to help reconstruct a theory of uneven socio-spatial development as a result of the distribution of transport infrastructure investments. Discussions on theory are further examined through four empirical chapters each of which investigates different issues related to transport inequalities. A mixed-method approach has been used in order to fully explore the complexity of the subject and integrate different epistemological positions. Through four empirical chapters, socio-spatial inequalities are discussed with regard to daily mobility levels of different socio-economic groups in Istanbul and the Istanbul Metro as well as in-direct economic impacts of the Metro and the socio-political processes it generates. The findings support some of the previous research on social inequalities based on transport, especially on how gender, education and employment become important determinants of travel time, trip frequency, trip purposes and the use of different transport modes. Yet, the thesis presents unexpected results on the impacts of the Istanbul Metro. On the one hand, the Istanbul Metro can be regarded as a just infrastructure as it accommodates users from every socio-economic background. On the other hand, it can be inequitable as it is likely to facilitate the accumulation of capital in certain areas, and circulation of producers and consumers of this capital within the same spatial unit, the Metro itself. This thesis proposes that horizontal and vertical socio-spatial inequalities exist both individually and together in various contexts in Istanbul. These inequalities are based on the spatial distribution of transport infrastructure investments, power relationships between different socio-economic groups, the dominance of politically powerful groups and the historical development of the urban space. Together this thesis is in an attempt to establish a comprehensive narrative of the discourses of inequalities in transport planning and policy and makes suggestions on the ways to reduce such inequalities. Moreover, this thesis is an original contribution to the literature as it links hitherto unconnected strands of theory in transport geography and social and spatial justice literatures.

Despite considerable research efforts, the relationship between inequality and demand for redistribution remains a highly contested topic within comparative political economy. This paper argues that a central yet widely overlooked mechanism linking macro-level income inequality to preferences for redistribution has to with the micro-level implications of certain externalities of inequality. Focusing on fear of crime, as one such externality, I argue that because (i) in- equality and crime are positively related, and (ii) because crime and fear of crime have a negative effect in individual utility, it follows that increasing in- equality should have a positive effect on support for redistribution. Importantly, however, the argument of this paper also recognises that redistribution is but one of several means through which a concern about crime can be addressed, with the most relevant alternatives being increased policing and harsher punitive measures. Drawing on literatures in criminology and political sociology, I theorise that a key determinant of this choice | between redistribution and policing/punishment as alternative approaches to dealing with crime | is the level of ethnic heterogeneity in the population. Taken together, therefore, this paper's argument implies that inequality will have differential effects on support for redistribution in different contexts: in cases where the population is homogenous, fear of crime - and by consequence inequality - will boost demand for redistribution, whilst no such effects will follow in contexts of high heterogeneity. Using a two-step statistical methodology, I analyse Eurobarometer and ESS data from 21 OECD countries and find persuasive empirical support for my theoretical expectations. Fear of crime is more strongly associated to support for redistribution when the level of population heterogeneity remains low, whilst the opposite holds true for the relationship between fear of crime and support for policing and punishment.

Aims: The aims of this thesis were to investigate the risk of severe maternal morbidity amongst women from different socioeconomic groups in the UK, explore why these differences exist and compare these findings to the setting in Australia. Methods: Three separate analyses were conducted. The first used UK Obstetric Surveillance System (UKOSS) data to assess the incidence and independent odds of severe maternal morbidity by socioeconomic group in the UK. The second analysis used quantitative and qualitative data from the 2010 UK National Maternity Survey (NMS) to explore the possible reasons for the difference in odds of morbidity between socioeconomic groups in the UK. The third analysis used data from the Victorian Perinatal Data Collection (VPDC) unit in Austra lia to assess the incidence and odds of severe maternal morbidity by socioeconomic group in Victoria. Results: The UKOSS analysis showed that compared with women from the highest socioeconomic group, women in the lowest 'unemployed' group had 1.22 (95%CI: 0.92 - 1.61) times greater odds associated with severe maternal morbidity. The NMS analysis demonstrated that independent of ethnicity, age and parity, women from the lowest socioeconomic quintiJe were 60% less likely to have had any antenatal care (aOR 0.40; 95%CI 0.18 - 0.87), 40% less likely to have been seen by a health professional prior to 12 weeks gestation (aOR 0.62; 95%CI 0.45 - 0.85) and 45% less likely to have had a postnatal check with their doctor (aOR 0.55; 95%CI 0.42 - 0.70) compared to women from the highest quintile. The Victorian analysis showed that women from the lowest socioeconomic group were 21% (aOR 1.21 ; 95% CI 1.00 - 1.47) more likely and that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women were twice (aOR 2.02; 95%CI 1.32 - 3.09) as likely to experience severe morbidity. Discussion: The resu lts suggest that women from the lowest socioeconomic group in the UK and in Victoria have increased odds of severe maternal morbidity. Further research is needed into why these differences exist and efforts must be made to ensure that these women are appropriately prioritised in the future planning of maternity services provisio n in the UK and Australia.

This thesis deals with the determinants and mechanisms of individual secularisation processes in a cross-national perspective. In this ‘collected volume’ of six stand-alone articles, I examine religious beliefs and behaviours as well as attitudes towards religion and politics, whereby the validity of the main theories of religious change (classical secularisation theory, existential security hypothesis, supply-side explanations, historical/cultural approaches and conflict theories) are put to an empirical test. The main conclusion is that the fundamental mechanisms suggested by secularisation theories are valid and that we can identify main determinants of religiosity worldwide. However, only a combination of existing approaches is capable of explaining a broad range of the phenomena observed. Chapter 1 (co-authored with Nan Dirk de Graaf and Peter Schmidt) deals with the fundamental mechanisms that facilitate the socialisation of religious beliefs. Under conditions of high inequality, religion acts as a source of social capital that benefits the religious socialisation of individuals outside of the family context. If levels of inequality fall, this ‘social value of religion’ is diminished and religious socialisation depends more strongly on parental efforts, thereby gradually leading to intergenerational secularisation. In Chapter 2 (co-authored with Anja Neundorf) we show that the state in Eastern Europe played a crucial role in de-establishing as well as re-establishing religious plausibility structures, which explains lower levels of religious belief in Cold War cohorts as well as the religious revival after the end of the Cold War. Chapters 3 and 4 examine the topic of religion and politics and the mechanisms behind the support for the 9/11 attacks in the Muslim world. Levels of existential security and income inequality have a strong impact on the preferences for religious politicians in a cross-sectional as well as in a longitudinal perspective. Moreover, religiosity and altruistic behaviour run the risk of being converted into pro-terrorist support under conditions of high levels of inequality and low development levels. The final two chapters show that –in a world-wide comparison development levels, inequality and the Socialist history of countries explain 75% of the variation in religiosity between countries. Furthermore, future developments in religious change will also be subject to changes in fertility. The main drivers of secularisation processes can be identified, but for the majority of the world population these conditions are not met at present, nor will they be met in the near future.

This thesis examines intergenerational change in prevalence of and attitudes to physical activity by comparing first and second-generation South Asians in Britain. British South Asians have poorer health outcomes including a higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes than White British people. Physical inactivity is one of the risk factors for CVD and diabetes. Physical activity levels are lower among British South Asians than the White British population, for reasons that include cultural factors related to being South Asian, the low socioeconomic status of some South Asian groups, and living in deprived neighbourhoods. However, existing literature on physical activity levels does not clearly distinguish between first and second-generations. Understanding generational differences in the influences on physical activity among South Asians is important for developing appropriate interventions. First, I review the existing quantitative and qualitative literature on physical activity in second-generation South Asians. There is some evidence that second-generation South Asians are more physically active than the first-generation. Despite this, second-generation South Asians remain less active than White British people. Neither the quantitative nor the qualitative literature has adequately explored the reasons for these findings. I then use data from the Health Survey for England to explore the ways that adult Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are physically active. When analysed by age and sex, all South Asians and the White British group were physically active in different ways to each other. However, there was little difference between younger Indians and younger White British people in the contribution of walking to total activity. Finally, I present a qualitative analysis of how ethnicity influences physical activity in second-generation South Asians. I interviewed 28 Indian women living in Manchester, England. I found that a British schooling and messages from the media had strongly influenced second-generation Indian women's attitudes to physical activity. Consequently, their motivations and barriers to physical activity were generally very similar to those reported for White British women. Second-generation Indian women had mostly adopted Western gender roles, with Indian gender expectations having a limited impact on their physical activity. In contrast, the traditional roles of Indian women constrained the leisure-time physical activity of the first-generation Indian women. There was no generational difference in how the local neighbourhood influenced physical activity. This thesis demonstrates clear differences in physical activity prevalence and attitudes between first and second-generation South Asian women in the UK. Interventions aimed at improving local environments for physical activity are likely to help all people living in deprived areas, regardless of ethnic background. Changing generic Western social norms around femininity and being physically active may be more important than tailored interventions for second-generation Indian women.

The UK government has pledged to end child poverty by 2020. It is not known how far the measure of child poverty used by the government corresponds to differences in children’s experiences. Qualitative research on poverty has not generally been informed by the insights of dynamic research, which investigates duration, timing and transitions, among other temporal topics. Qualitative and quantitative methods have not generally been combined in social policy research on poverty, which limits the explanatory power of both. The thesis presents an analysis of the correspondence or lack of correspondence between qualitative and quantitative research on child poverty as a temporal experience. Semi-structured life history interviews were conducted with 15-21 year olds in Britain with experience of child poverty in the period 1997-2001. These were analysed alongside secondary analysis of the British Household Panel Survey (1991-2005). The qualitative respondents lived in households which took part in the survey, so there is a direct link between the two methods. The assumptions, methods and findings of dynamic poverty research are in general found to be a simplified and decontexualised version, rather than a misrepresentation of, the qualitative findings. Time formed an important part of the experience of poverty for children. It was not possible to fully match together exits from poverty with perceived improvements in circumstances, and entries into poverty with perceived deteriorations in circumstances, though this was partly due to limited recall and lack of contemporaneous knowledge. Nor were these changes clearly placed in time by respondents, in terms of duration and timing. Although most respondents did not explicitly engage with the idea of poverty as a personal experience, poverty-like accounts of disadvantage and difference were found in the accounts of all respondents. Thus, there is evidence for and against the way child poverty is currently measured.

“Nation building without city building is a senseless exercise” - Tomlinson et al (eds.) 2003: x. What is the nation in the 21st century and how is it represented in the urban built environment? This question underlies an anthropological investigation into the meanings of the Nelson Mandela Bridge project - a simulacrum for the making of a particular Johannesburg experience. The multi-million Rand fantasy of the urban imagineers showcases a post-apartheid inner city revival through the personification of a mayoral dream for a world-class city. The city’s textured socio-cultural and political-economic urbanity, its haphazard mining town origins and the aggressive apartheid urban politics, filter into its post-apartheid urban reconfiguration. The artful juggling of socio-cultural, political and economic elements launches the project as physical and symbolic entry-point into a new urban and historical era – a new urban frontier. The project’s technological innovation and slick excesses mirrors 21st century capitalist thinking – a packaging of local experiences into a marketable landscape commodified for moneyed consumption and participation. The privatisation of public space through modes of urban gentrification elicits elitist urban engagement in a partitioned and generic urban space. The latter conflicts with the project’s official branding as: “[being]‘for the good of all’. This research interrogates the adaptation of international best practices, the machinations of trans-nationalism in setting up urban experiences that contest individual constitutional and democratic rights. Contrasted here are the un-narrated voices of the city’s dark underbelly, the uncertainties of a marginalized majority struggling for a meagre existence in the inner-city in the face of the grand-scale urban regeneration project.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-22T17:26:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ARMINDO.pdf: 1192077 bytes, checksum: 06920b1a66021b819c1b13ef0621ed3b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-09-13 / This work was guided by the study of the policies of small scale financing, which, if well implemented, can represent an alternative to fighting poverty and social inequality, because through them we can bring economic development to the poor. In this work, we approach the goal, the key question, the guiding questions, the investigative method and the nature and structure of the research. Additionally, the social reality of the development of the Capitalist Way of Production (CWP) is exposed and presents the Micro entrepreneurship as one possible alternative for facing this reality. The development consists of three chapters, in which the first indicates the system of credit to small entrepreneurs as a viable tool to combat poverty and social inequality. The second chapter addresses the micro and small enterprises and social issues, emphasizing the potential for generating employment and income of these companies as well as their difficulties. In the third chapter, "The Credit for the Micro entrepreneur and Social Inequality , discusses the policies of credit for micro entrepreneurs deployed in the country, addressing, among other things, the legislation that regulates credit programs to small entrepreneur, the main obstacles to their development and deployment, key initiatives and also the support needed for the proper performance of programs in the country. A reference to solidarity finance and small scale credit is made, spanning their definitions, brief history of micro entrepreneurship and articulating them to the legacy of Professor Yunus with the creation and operation of the Grameen Bank. The characteristics of the adopted policies, from the Grameen Bank, which resulted in success and an example for the world economy are also discussed. The credit to small entrepreneur is seen from the perspective of credit unions and community banks, which deal with poor people's access to credit as a mean of reducing social inequality, thus making the link between the system of credit to small entrepreneurs and poverty alleviation and social and economic inequality in the country. In this chapter, poverty and social inequality are focused from the postulate of Amartya Sen, because according to the author, the use of freedom as an agent for change is about incentives for credit access. At last, the results which this very research proposed are exposed / Este trabalho foi norteado pelo estudo das políticas de financiamento de pequena monta, que, se bem implantadas, podem representar uma alternativa para o combate à pobreza e à desigualdade social, pois através delas pode-se levar o desenvolvimento econômico à população pobre. Na apresentação deste estudo, são abordados o objetivo, a questão-chave, as questões norteadoras, o método investigativo e a natureza e estruturação da pesquisa. Além disso, expõe-se a realidade social decorrente do desenvolvimento do Modo de Produção Capitalista (MPC) e se apresenta o microempreendedorismo como uma das possíveis alternativas de enfrentamento dessa realidade. O desenvolvimento é constituído por três capítulos, em que o primeiro aponta o sistema de crédito ao pequeno empreendedor como uma ferramenta viável de combate à pobreza e à desigualdade social. O segundo capítulo aborda as micro e pequenas empresas e a questão social, enfatizando a potencialidade de geração de trabalho e renda dessas empresas, bem como as suas dificuldades. No terceiro capítulo, O Crédito para o Microempreendedor e a Desigualdade Social , discute-se a política de crédito aos microempreendedores implantada no país, abordando-se, entre outros aspectos, a legislação vigente que regulamenta os programas de crédito ao microempreendedor, os principais obstáculos à implantação e desenvolvimento deles, as principais iniciativas e também os apoios necessários ao bom desempenho dos programas no país. Faz-se, ainda, referência às finanças solidárias e ao crédito de pequena monta, perpassando as suas definições, breve histórico do micro empreendedorismo e os articulando ao legado do professor Yunus, com a criação e funcionamento do Grameen Bank. As características das políticas adotadas, a partir do Grammen Bank, que resultaram em sucesso e exemplo para o mundo econômico são também discorridas. O crédito ao microempreendedor é visto sob a ótica das cooperativas de crédito e dos bancos comunitários, que tratam o acesso das pessoas pobres ao crédito como forma de diminuir a desigualdade social, fazendo, dessa forma, o elo entre o sistema de crédito ao pequeno empreendedor e a diminuição da pobreza e desigualdade social e econômica no país. Nesse capítulo, a pobreza e a desigualdade social são focalizadas a partir do postulado de Amartya Sen, pois, segundo o autor, o uso da liberdade como agente para mudanças trata-se de incentivos para o acesso ao crédito. Nas considerações finais, são expostos os resultados a que a presente pesquisa se propôs