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Some commentators have seen the introduction of decimal currency in the UK as part of a broader process of Europeanisation, driven by a zeal for modernisation, and leading to an abandonment of a traditional British exceptionalism. This thesis will argue that this view is false, and that the modernisation of the currency was an essentially conservative reform. In preserving the existing pound sterling, the Government was keen to maintain the supposed prestige of the currency, and the retention of the name ‘penny’ for the minor unit was based on an appeal to the public’s perceived adherence to tradition. There is little evidence that either the fact of decimalisation per se, or the choice of a system based on the existing pound, was influenced by Britain's attempts to gain entry to the European Economic Community, or indeed any desire to emulate wider European practice. In fact, by far the more important external stimulus to action by the British authorities was the decimalisation of the currencies in the 1960s by successive Commonwealth countries, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, which left the UK, in the mid-1960s with the prospect of being virtually the only country in the world operating a non-decimal currency. However, I will argue that, although the influence of the decisions made in Australia and New Zealand was important, it was limited in scope. Whilst the UK was content to follow the lead of its Commonwealth partners in decimalising its currency, it did so on the basis of the existing £ unit, rather than the 10-shilling basis favoured in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. It did so, despite significant internal opposition from retail and other interests, largely as a result of an unlikely alliance between the City of London, anxious to preserve the international status of the pound as a reserve currency, and a Labour government with decidedly conservative views on the traditional image of the pound.

The overall aim of this dissertation is to develop an understanding of the intentional actions of persons, whereby the person is assumed to be the principle unit for analysis. Unlike the predominant cognitivism and the emergent social constructionism of psychology and social psychology, the 'person' is treated in the naturalistic sense, as the person encountered in everyday life. This treatment contrasts with both cognitivism's emphasis on sub-personal explanations and the tendency for discursive explanations of persons in social constructionist psychology. The naturalistic conceptualisation of persons and the overall aim are similar to ethogenics (Harre & Secord, 1972). Persons are taken to be users of language who have their reasons for acting and can be assumed to act in their own interests. Support for this general view is derived from ethogenics and selected works in social constructionist psychology. From this perspective, discourse comes to be seen as providing evidence for the person as agent. Using this enabling 'common-sense' argument, a model of the actions of persons and a submodel based on the analogy of the 'taking of a position' are developed. These models are given significance by means of the critical reinterpretation of selected theories and studies of prominence in cognitivist social psychology. The theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) and the elaboration likelihood model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1981) are critically assessed and a new interpretation of these works is provided. In addition, to develop the new interpretation further, the attitudinal consistency study by LaPiere (1934), the Asch (1951) conformity experiment and the Milgram (1963) obedience experiment are reviewed and subjected to critical reinterpretation. The new models are presented as amenable for hypothesis testing and, more crucially, are shown to avoid problems inherent in cognitivism regarding the positing of an unseen realm of states, dispositions and drives. The new models provide for a descriptive understanding of intentional action and hold that regularities in the actions of persons arise from the use of learned skills and abilities. Social action is understood within a climate of debate, with negotiation being a primary means of intervention and empathy being the means of understanding the relative positions taken by persons. The work thus offers a useful means of describing and explaining action, while recognising the active role that persons play in the administration of their lives.

This thesis identifies the nature, strength and relative importance of influences on intentions regarding the purchase of food produced using genetic engineering. Drawing upon contemporary attitude-behaviour research, a model is developed of the personal motivations towards the purchase of these foods. The model is a modification of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) with self-identity as an additional determinant of intention. Also included in the model were a number of factors that were hypothesised as having relationships with the determinant components of the model, including prior purchasing based on concern for the environment or concern for personal health. The model was initially tested using focus groups and survey questions were developed. The survey utilised a categorical measure of intention, which is a variation on the cardinal measure of intention traditionally used in attitude-behaviour research. In addition, the survey employed a variation on the formation of attitude, with attitude towards outcomes from the use of the technology being identified and subsequently incorporated in the formulation of attitude towards the performance of the behaviour. Analysis of the survey sample (N = 266) was undertaken using ordered logit modelling which enabled the simultaneous examination of five categories of intention. The results supported the model. Key findings were that self-identity, attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control had both combined significance and independent significance in determining the categories of intention. In addition, these determinants were distinguished in terms of their relationships with age, gender, prior behaviour, and the believability of information sources. The results provided direction for the application of attitude-behaviour modelling to this topic area. In addition, the efficacy of using a categorical measurement of intention and utilisation of ordered logit modelling for attitude-behaviour research was demonstrated. The use of attitudes towards a target object, within the commonly utilised attitude towards behaviour formulation, was also identified as an important theoretical development. In addition, similarities between the expectancy value formulations of attitude used in the study and risk assessment indicate that factors identified in risk perception studies may well have a bearing on attitude. Expected changes in intention given the nature of its determinants are identified and consideration is given to the tactics of proponents and opponents of the technology given the findings of this study.