Physical Education (PE) is the most sex-differentiated and gender stereotyped subject in the school curriculum in England. The long tradition of gendered PE is not reflected in a more contemporary gender-neutral PE curriculum. This disparity is part of a broader theory-practice gap centred on differences between how PE should be and how PE is. Therefore, in this thesis, relationships, identities and behavioural norms in Male PE (MPE) are examined as they are, and not how they should be. A figurational sociological approach is adopted to examine gendered social processes, power relations and masculine embodiment within MPE. The data discussed in the thesis is from a six-month ethnography in Colbeck High School, a religious-affiliated mixed-sex secondary school within the North-East of England. Key findings identified how both enabling and constraining social processes within MPE were configured and subsequently internalised by boys along fairly binary gendered lines. Whilst MPE teachers contributed to this process through using gender slurs, boys’ gendered self-restraints were primarily driven by their desire to be part of, and maintain an affiliation with, the dominant ‘We’ group amongst their peers. In constantly negotiating their identities with the prevailing ‘We’- identity, boys appeared to exercise a more flexible and reflexive self-control when restraining or expressing their emotions according to often gendered social circumstances. This conscious behaviour was evident in boys’ frequent engagement in banter, a behavioural norm which carried much social significance within MPE. Banter was found to be premised on necessary levels of mutual identification and mutual respect, and to differentiate it from inappropriate comments or verbal bullying, boys had to be socially and emotionally aware of their, and other people’s, feelings and intentions. Given this increasingly expected heightened levels of social awareness and emotional sophistication, a case is made to reconfigure academic conceptions of banter from being an immature behaviour to banter as being a sophisticated form of communication. These findings contrast with previous research that tends to overly focus on boys’ physical behaviours as influential in their power relations with peers and key markers of their gender identity by illustrating the increasing importance of verbal exchanges as symbolic forms of power. Furthermore, through identifying the levels of consciousness present in boys’ behaviour and linking this to their exhibiting of a third nature psyche, critiques of attempts to attach boys’ emotional expressions to their innate biological sex or suggestions that boys’ aggression signifies regressions to instinctive impulses are provided. Placing these key findings within broader civilizing processes it seems that long-term shifts from physical to more verbally centred power relations has impacted young people at relational, identity and behavioural levels. There appears to be a heightened need for young people to engage in sophisticated forms of communications and emotional self-restraint before entering adult social worlds, and the MPE figuration provides an illustrative example of this.

This thesis investigates workplace cyberbullying, defined as a situation where over time, an individual is repeatedly subjected to perceived negative acts conducted through technology (for example, phone, email, web sites, social media) which are related to their work context. In this situation the target of workplace cyberbullying has difficulty defending him or herself against these actions. The thesis has two broad aims: (1) to develop a workplace cyberbullying measurement scale; and (2) to investigate the impact of workplace cyberbullying on employees. Workplace cyberbullying is conceptualised in this thesis by drawing on the traditional workplace bullying and cyberbullying literature. A rationale is presented for investigating it as a distinct form of workplace bullying and four separate studies address the development of the workplace cyberbullying measure (WCM). The first study generated measurement items by asking employees to describe cyberbullying behaviours. The behaviours were sorted into categories using content analysis and converted into measurement items. In the second study, the relative severity of each item was assessed so that the measure could be weighted according to severity. In the third study, the 34 item WCM was completed by a sample of 424 employees. A two factor structure (comprising work-related cyberbullying and person-related cyberbullying) was compared to a unidimensional factor structure and the measure was refined into a 17 item instrument. During the fourth study the nomological network of the WCM was constructed and further reliability and validity evidence was obtained. The fifth and final study then used the WCM to investigate the impact of workplace cyberbullying within a theoretical framework. The theoretical and practical contributions of the studies are discussed along with directions for future research.

The author’s objective was to establish if Emotional Intelligence (EI) influences work related stress among Irish Civil Servants. EI is the ability to perceive, understand and regulate one’s own feelings and emotions along with those of others essential for daily functioning. Work related stress is the perceived inability to cope due to an imbalance between demands and resources, leading to fatigue, irritability and poor communication which can challenge interpersonal and intrapersonal functioning. Stress management through EI helps workers reappraise workplace demands helping them cope. Schutte et al. (1998) Assessing Emotions Scale (AES) was employed to measure EI within the Irish Civil Service. A customised self-reported questionnaire obtained participants socio-demographic information pertaining to gender and age. An adapted Occupational stress Index (OSI) developed by Srivastava and Singh (1981) was used to measure perceived occupational stress levels among Irish Civil Servants, determining whether EI is a meditating factor of work-related stress. It is suggested that occupational stress scores reflect levels of EI influenced by one’s ability to adapt and cope through the appraisal, regulation, management and utilisation of emotions rather than what a job entails. Contrary to empirical research the inferences drawn indicated that the null hypotheses were accepted. H01: Global EI does not correlate with perceived occupational stress among Irish Civil Servants. H02: Global EI does not predict perceived occupational stress when accounting for age and gender. Further exploration was done using the three components of occupational stress: role ambiguity, role overload and role conflict. Age was the only variable factor which significantly contributed to role ambiguity, rejecting H02. It is suggested that Human Resource Management evaluate the organisational role structure to mitigate any risk of occupational stress. Employees could develop self-focused EI as it is believed to have positive effects on psychological and physiological occupational well-being.

This thesis examines the social and educational experiences of working-class young women and girls engaged in vocational beauty education in the West of Scotland, with research taking place at three further education colleges. Through qualitative interviews with staff and students, supplemented with classroom observations, the pasts, presents and (imagined) futures of working-class girls are explored.

Taking a feminist-Bourdieusian theoretical approach, the school experiences of working-class girls are identified as a central driver for economic and educational inequalities later in life, with school having been experienced as a space of ‘networks of violence’ relating to fights, bullying and complicated, often hostile, relationships. These inequalities include the structuring of post-compulsory educational pathways which are highly gendered and classed, intergenerationally reproducing working-class women’s disadvantage. At the same time, and contrary to the ways in which vocational education tends to be criticised from both skills-based and feminist perspectives, the thesis (re-)examines beauty education in terms of valuable opportunities for social capital, and ‘use-value’, highlighting the creative, meaningful aspects of beauty education for working-class girls. Finally, participants’ imagined futures are examined. In particular, it is argued that uncertainty represents a key theme of discussions around imagined futures, which manifests as curbed ambitions based on current economic positions and class- and gender-informed plausibility structures. This final findings chapter also examines both the enduring power of the local habitus, as well as its evolution and reconfiguration, through participants’ narratives of aspirations, resistance and meaningful work.

In doing so, the thesis mobilises Bourdieusian concepts of violence (through the application of ‘networks of violence’); habitus and dialectical confrontation; and capital, as a means by which to explore working-class girls’ educational and social experiences, as well as their imagined futures and what structures these. In particular, it will be argued that the local (working-class, feminine) habitus of the participants of this study was in conflict with the institutional habitus of the school, yet aligned well with the institutional habitus at work in beauty learning spaces. The interplay of participants’ local habitus and its evolution is then explored in terms of how this tension impacts imagined futures for working-class girls.

Overall, this thesis contributes to contemporary discussions regarding the function of both class and gender in informing inequalities at work under late modernity, including the structuring of post-16 educational options, and transitions to work for young people. It also contributes to theoretical debates around the application of the ‘institutional habitus’, widening these discussions to include empirically-informed notions of institutional and local habitus alignment. Finally, and building on the work of feminist Bourdieusian scholars, this project contributes empirical data to theoretical discussions of value, in particular the notion of ‘use- value’ and its function for working-class young women and girls.