H Social Sciences (General)

Nursing as a profession has historically been largely dominated by females, both in terms of the demographical profile and the common perception of nursing being a task for women. A small minority of men do however practice as nurses and as such are anomalous in a female dominat…

The objective of this thesis was to examine how psychological theories and sociological concepts can be used to better understand health behaviour change amongst families living in Everton, north-west England. In doing so, three research questions are addressed: (1) What is the …

Since the 1990s UK governments have sought to harness third sector organisations in the delivery of services due to their perceived capacity to address social problems, and provide more responsive and individually-tailored services which can foster the capacity of individuals to…

This study begins with the clinical observation that psychopathic patients distort and disrupt the organisation containing and caring for them on one hand, and that organisational leaders manage to galvanise followers into realising his vision on the other; the two seeming to be…

Background and rationale: Urban regeneration is an example of an intervention that seeks to address social and spatial inequalities that negatively affect the health and wellbeing of residents living in inner-city neighbourhoods (Thomson et al., 2006, Kearns, 2012). Although urb…

Background: Successful HIV prevention efforts among gay men have been linked to strong ‘community’ responses to HIV and adherence to safer sex practices. Research has found that gay men are increasingly ambivalent about ‘gay communities’, leading some to suggest that using the l…

Volunteer tourism is a burgeoning industry, and is similarly expanding as a field of academic interest. However, much of the extant literature on this phenomenon is concerned with the motivations of volunteer tourists and their interactions with indigenous and local populations …

The work presented here is a sociological and bioethical analysis of the medical condition known as Syndrome X/Metabolic Syndrome. The term is a recent name given to a group of cardiac/diabetic risk factors that include high cholesterol, insulin resistance, obesity, high blood p…

Truancy is a phenomenon that has captured considerable attention within the UK and in countries throughout the world. Participation in education is regarded as a key mechanism of inclusion, and as such young people who truant from school are claimed to be at a higher risk of soc…

This thesis explores the use of the Mental Health Act (MHA)(1983) with older people(65+) by providing a multi-perspective insight as expressed by those involved in the process. In particular, it focuses on the personal and social circumstances in which decisions to compulsorily …

This thesis reports on a research project investigating how women use the internet, and how this use is productive of femininity. It takes an approach to researching this technology that examines what it becomes when it is used, and looks in depth at this internet use in a small…

This thesis is centred on the analysis of how the different groups of specialist experts that make up theoretical physics at large communicate and transmit knowledge between themselves. The analysis is carried out using two sociological frameworks: the Studies in Expertise and E…

The present thesis has focused on helping behaviour towards disadvantaged outgroups. Research was done at an intergroup level, and obtained its theoretical foundation from the Social Identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986), self-categorization theory (Turner, 1985; Turner et al.…

This study explores the possible influence of the media on teenagers’ constructions of gendered identities, with a specific focus on drinking alcohol and engaging in sexual/romantic relationships. Understanding the factors underlying alcohol consumption and sexual activity in th…

Background: Reducing rates of unintended pregnancy among young women in the United Kingdom (UK) requires that we understand why young women use particular contraceptive methods, why they stop using them, and why, in turn, they switch to other methods. The majority of studies in …

Children and young people at residential schools are among the most vulnerable and marginalized of societal groups. While increasingly research has focused upon the everyday worlds of these children and young people, there has been an absence of research in Scotland that has exa…

In this thesis, I develop and then test an approach to mentoring that after Clutterbuck (1991), I call, Professional Friendship. This is to better understand the role of mentoring more broadly and that of learning mentors in particular. My hypothesis examines the problem of: ‘To…

The equation between society and the nation-state in sociology has been subject to severe criticisms in recent times. This equation has been given the name of ‘methodological nationalism’ and is underpinned by a reading of the history of sociology in which the discipline’s key c…

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, neo-liberal models of governance have become dominant, and have increasingly been justified through the employment of human rights discourses. However, the increased use of human rights discourses has not resulted in the increased realisati…