A political boundary divided the City of Shenzhen in 1978. The southern portion is designated as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), while the northern region remains a part of hinterland China. The divide creates a geographical and psychological chasm in the administrative and ontological existence of Shenzhen. The locals dubbed this border “the Second Line”. The Second Line and SEZ were a part of Chairman Deng Xiaoping’s open and reform economic policies in 1978. The SEZs were designated areas along the southeast coast of China for the socialist state’s experimentation with global capitalism. After years of wars, revolution and repression of the individual pursuit of capital, Shenzhen underwent extraordinary urban and economic development, growing from clusters of villages holding 300 000 residents to a megalopolis of more than a million in one decade. The Second Line drove uneven urban and economic growth in the Shenzhen SEZ. The radical speed of development and opportunities brought workers from rural areas of China. They made up the economic and urban substructure of the city, but were excluded from urban social welfare. Shenzhen’s industries rooted in instability and disposability of labour discouraged the settlement of the floating population. The thesis proposal conceptually commemorates the site of the Second Line, and pays homage to its crucial role in the urban and economic formation of Shenzhen. At the urban scale, it acts as a public infrastructure, providing a framework for interface between the segregated territories of the city. The social housing component of the proposal is an architectural response and challenge to policies that allow for the migration of rural workers without provisions for everyday life. The proposal subverts the divisive ideology of the boundary through inhabitation, and creates a space of dwelling on the Second Line.

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Social care is currently undergoing a transformation, driven by Government policy, and key to this transformation is giving greater choice to service users. This vision of choice is based on a market model of competing service providers; such a model can be difficult to implement in rural areas where problems of space, time and access hamper service delivery. This raises the question of whether policy is biased towards urban areas and highlights the important role that geographical gerontology can play in developing more person-centred social care policy and practice. This consumerist vision of social care has also fuelled a theoretical debate which underpins this research. The market model of choice has been located within a wider discourse which regards the self as a rational, self-sufficient individual. An alternative discourse has been posited from a feminist ontology in which interdependence and co-responsibility come to the fore; such a discourse emphasises the personal dimension to social care practice. This project forms the research component of a professional doctorate in occupational therapy and is concerned with the self-expressed views of rural older people in relation to the above social care theory and policy. Taking a phenomenological approach, a narrative methodology was used to interview 11 older people who live in rural West Northumberland. Participants' narratives concerning social care re-affirm findings from previous gerontological research which assert low expectations, self-sufficiency and the crucial role of human relationships. Although at a superficial level, 'choice' is not a term participants relate to social care, it is revealed that they do make choices on a daily basis both in relation to social care and their home situation, but choice is a complex and ongoing process rather than a one off event. It is suggested that the way participants situate themselves within their network of care and their geographic location helps them to maintain coherence in their personal identity. The concepts identified above are used to develop theory from a postmodern and feminist perspective in the areas of social care and geographical gerontology, forming an original contribution at the interface of these two domains.

This thesis explores the impact of co-operative working upon feelings of personal and political efficacy and political consciousness amongst participants in job creation worker co-operatives. Based upon a longitudinal panel study of four job creation co-operatives in Scotland and the north east of England, the research monitors the factors influencing their commercial and organisational development. How this influences the scope for, and achievement of, personal change is highlighted. The research concludes that the job creation worker co-operative is not, per se, a vehicle for social and personal change in a capitalist society. Severe commercial pressures limit the scope for autonomous control identified as fundamental to the development of feelings of personal and political efficacy. Worker co-operatives are not identified by participants as part of a wider movement for social change and the experience of working within them has a negligible effect on political consciousness.

This thesis arose from an interest in examining from a critical micro sociological perspective the practice and procedure of a Youth Justice reform implemented at the beginning of a New Labour administration. Preventing youth crime at its early onset had been a key agenda for New Labour since their election to government in 1997. Their flagship Crime and Disorder Act 1998 brought about a raft of orders with young people that included the replacement of the juvenile caution with the Final Warning scheme that was meant to be at the cutting edge of multi-agency working in youth crime control. Engineered to send messages to young people that they could no longer go on offending with impunity it was anticipated that more uniformity and structure to diversion would not only 'nip crime in the bud' but also reduce professional discretion and promote greater conformity in practitioners working on the ground. To date Final Warnings have received only limited attention from academics and remain theoretically under developed and in need of greater critical scrutiny. That research which exists has highlighted the tensions between New Labour's expectations set against the reality of operational Final Warning practice on the ground. Missing is the nature and causes of these tensions, how they arise and why. Using a combination of in depth semi structured interviews and observational data with police inspectors responsible for administering Final Warnings, YOT officers who delivered early intervention and young people who received a Final Warning this thesis examines the basis for New Labour's policy with young offenders and explores how the participants interpreted the reform and the ways in which this informed their actions. Enabling an understanding of the Final Warning from the vantage point of all who participate in the initiative may go some way towards the development of best practice in 'joined up thinking' in youth justice. It is the argument of this thesis that local organizational culture and practice can inhibit government aspirations for reform. The Final Warning in the study area continued to exhibit many of the problems of the previous caution system with juveniles but within a more prescribed system that can disadvantage young people. The conclusion suggests reform in youth justice is unlikely to succeed without paying greater attention to local dynamics and the transformational tendencies at the ground level.

Previous research regarding the emergence of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) has either been impact oriented (Cooper et al, 2006, Chatterton and Rowland 2005, Crawford et al, 2004) or has been concerned with their capacity to improve equality and diversity within public policing (Johnston, 2006). Despite the recent civilianisation of the patrol function (Crawford and Lister, 2004a) and increasing recognition of multiple police subcultures within the police force (Reuss Ianni, 1983, Chan, 1997, Foster, 2003), there has been little attention directed towards understanding PCSO working practices and decision making, their capacity to deliver reassurance or to the potential emergence of a distinct PCSO occupational subculture within the police organisation as a result of their differential role, remit and limited authority. This study aims to critically examine the existence and characteristics of a PCSO occupational culture and its influence upon the delivery of neighbourhood policing within a northern police force. Underpinned by an appreciative ethnographic approach (Liebling and Price, 2001), it provides an original contribution to understanding the operation of PCSOs and to existing theoretical knowledge and understanding of police (sub)cultures within the context of civilianisation and police reform. The research involved three hundred hours of participant observation of PCSO working practices, individual interviews with twelve PCSOs and two focus groups with neighbourhood police officers across two police sectors of a northern police force. The study revealed two key findings. Firstly, whilst PCSOs are able to deliver reassurance to ‘vulnerable’ and 'respectable’ residents within target communities, the pursuit of reassurance is secondary to the demands of crime control. The pull of the performance culture and high levels of public demand for service cause PCSOs to become increasingly utilised as a reactive resource and to be deployed in tasks falling outside their remit. Second, represented as a three-fold typology of PCSO culture, the study thus provides evidence of an emerging PCSO subculture within the police organisation. Widely held aspirations to become police officers amongst PCSOs combined with an emphasis upon and value attached to crimefighting within the dominant police culture (Reiner, 2000) leads to the construction of a PCSO occupational culture that is both similar to and distinct from police officers. PCSOs endorse characteristics of the dominant culture, including suspicion, solidarity and sense of mission in their efforts to either imitate police officers or support future applications to become police officers. However, their civilian status, limited authority and differential occupational environment also lead to the construction of distinct cultural characteristics and orientations to the role.

The recent promotion of male circumcision as a public health strategy in settings with low circumcision rates is based on research evidence suggesting that male circumcision provides heterosexual men with 50 to 60 per cent protective benefit against HIV infection. For the Kikuyu people in Kenya, male circumcision is a cultural ritual and a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. The study explored the male circumcision ritual and practices in Muranga, Kenya and their implications on public health. A qualitative research design underpinned by an Interpretivist paradigm was employed. Focused ethnographic methodology was used to capture the cultural context of the ritual and its meanings. Participants were recruited through purposive sampling method. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 13 circumcision mentors, participant observations in three churches and written narratives with 43 male students from six schools. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings suggest a changing circumcision ritual with women as key agents of change in a ritual considered a male arena. The church, hospital and urbanisation emerged as the drivers of the changes which women effected with the aim of protecting their sons from institutional bullying and the culture of pain in the era of HIV and AIDS. The latest change in the ritual feature boys getting circumcised and recuperating in hospitals. The changes in male circumcision practices are of significance to public health. The changes in sexual practices are likely to increase the risk of HIV infection counteracting the protective effect expected of circumcision. The study recommends a revision of policies especially the WHO policy on male circumcision for the effective impact on HIV prevention among the circumcising communities. Women can be engaged in mobilising changes in the circumcision ritual that are significant to the health of young men through institutions such as hospitals and churches.

This study seeks to understand and explain the problem of online child sexual abuse (CSA). More specifically, it presents a theoretical and empirical investigation of the current tactics and operational procedures employed by the London Metropolitan Police High Technological Crime Unit (HTCU) and Paedophile Unit, and it explores patterns and characteristics of online grooming. The thesis is divided into two parts. Part One is concerned with theoretical, empirical and legislative context. It critically reviews the existing literature on online CSA and assesses the operational challenges to policing this high profile social problem. Part Two uses this framework to explore the methods and practices used by suspected sex offenders to groom children online, and the covert and overt procedures used by the police to tackle online CSA. The approach is ethnographic in nature, since this is the only way in which the complex dynamics that shape the perpetration and policing of online eSA can be explored in sufficient depth. Other methods such as participant observation, in depth interviews and narrative and case analysis of sex offenders were also utilised. Key findings highlight that whilst there is no such. thing as a typical online child groomer, it is nevertheless both possible and instructive to identify a range of distinctive child grooming behaviours. The research explores a spectrum of grooming behaviours from online fantasists who groom for immediate sexual gratification in the virtual world, to persistent predators who groom online to lay the foundations for CSA in the physical world. This study shows that sex offenders can anonymously and simultaneously target a number of victims in a short period of time without taking into account the risk of being monitored by the police. Findings also emphasize that the police must prioritise in order to allocate their limited resources to dealing with those online groomers who are perceived to pose the greatest risk in the physical world. Informed prioritisation is a process that requires undercover officers entering the world of the online groomers and interacting over time to develop an understanding of their intentions. This research explores the complex, multi-faceted and at times counterintuitive relationships between online grooming behaviours, risk assessment, police practices, and the actual danger of subsequent abuse in the physical world. The ultimate aim is to generate a deeper knowledge and understanding of the under researched and sensitive area of online CSA, with direct relevance to policy and practice. This research makes an original contribution to theory, methods and epistemology.

Thesis. 1979. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Alfred P. Sloan School of Management. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND DEWEY. / Includes bibliographical references. / Ph.D.

This dissertation examines postwar anti-poverty programs in order to understand the Latin American roots of US social policy, the origins of neoliberalism, and the rise of economists as public intellectuals. By following veterans of the New Deal and Marshall Plan through Colombian reform projects of the 1950s and 1960s and back to the United States in the era of the Great Society, it suggests that one way of studying the route from the 1930s to the 1960s in the United States is by traveling through Latin America. Conversely, one way of understanding the history of economic development is by analyzing its relation to First-World programs for economic recovery and redistribution. The dissertation further illuminates the role of midcentury policymaking in popularizing what became neoliberal practices after 1980, most importantly those of state decentralization, gentrification, and public-private partnership. Finally, midcentury social programs provide a context in which to study the emergence of economics as an independent discipline in Latin America, economists' strategies of social ascent, and the popularization of economic reasoning as a persuasive form of public argument. The project is a social history of economic thought, in which reform projects and the conflicts surrounding them provide the context for studying ideas. It is simultaneously a transnational history of social policy, exposing lines of mutual influence between the United States and Latin America.