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The focus of my study is the financial management of opera in the UK during the interwar years. The early years of the 20th century were witness to huge shifts in the 'business' of opera as it progressed from the old model of elite patronage towards a more socially democratic art-form, in line with the class and moral changes of those times. This thesis presents a series of case studies that illustrate how opera in Britain was funded during the years prior to the formation of the Arts Council: in particular, they reveal how opera survived during these years, thanks to the efforts of several unsung heroes and their search for a financial solution. It has at its heart a simple question: why was it that opera in England, which had been profitable in the late years of the nineteenth century, was by 1945 financially unsustainable? My research, based primarily on business archives, reveals perspectives on changes in the 'ownership' of opera: from when it ceased to be a commercially viable enterprise to when it was partially funded by government and considered by some to be part of the welfare state. I use three case studies to illustrate social and economic changes in the British public's relationship with opera and how different funding models were employed with varying degrees of success. The first investigates the efforts of Elizabeth Courtauld at Covent Garden during 1925-27; the second is a detailed investigation into the circumstances surrounding the first government grant to opera in 1930; the third considers the actions of John Christie at Glyndebourne during the period 1934-39. My analysis of these years makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the national operatic heritage and of the institutions and systems of funding of opera that exist today.

In this thesis I address the research question, 'How do nursery nurses, in day nurseries, interpret the Early Learning Goals?' This question arises out of questions raised during my work as an Ofsted Nursery Inspector (RgNI) and the changing curriculum for pre-school children. Nursery nurses have an outcome curriculum which they are required to follow upon and this curriculum stresses the importance ofliteracy and numeracy. Most nursery nurses have had little training in these matters. I look at the changes in the curriculum and the effect it has had on nursery nurses working in day nurseries. I discovered that the child developmental approach, found in nursery nurse training, runs contrary to the outcomes curriculum which is being developed at present. I found that the introduction of the Early Learning Goals and the Foundation Stage, which the nursery nurses are required to follow, has caused confusion, time wasting and a lowering of morale in some day nurseries. The change from a child developmental curriculum to an outcome curriculum has meant that nursery nurses have to plan, assess and teach children skills, for which they judge many are not ready. Nursery nurses have not been trained to teach reading and writing skills or to teach anything other than basic numeracy and they do not think that teaching those subjects is necessary. I also set out to show how the role of the nursery nurse as a carer is being diminished, in order that the literacy and numeracy of children in school are improved. I show that many children in the day nurseries that I studied, needed the care that nursery nurses can give them, if they are to be ready for the world of school. The method used for this study was a qualitative or naturalistic research. I used a small-scale study and decided that the theories to be tested would arise in the data. I decided to collect the data over a period of eighteen months, by interviews and observations in three different types of day nurseries; a community nursery, a local authority nursery and a day nursery which was part of a large chain. I then analysed the data and built up a picture a picture of the complex roles and tasks of a nursery nurse. I then looked at the training of nursery nurses, using documents which nursery nurses in my study would have used for their training. I compared this with the present outcomes related requirements by Ofsted. I suggest that young children in day nurseries still need a great deal of help with their personal, social and emotional development, as well as their health and hygiene skills and language development. The nursery nurse training fitted the nursery nurses with a caring role, which they saw as important. They were trained to help three to five-year-old children adapt to a group situation and also provide the atmosphere and learning through play, which they might get if they were at home. They felt that it was important for children to have a good self-image and for them to enjoy being with other children. I found that the nursery nurses, whom I interviewed, thought that there needs to be an acceptance that some children require more caring and less teaching between the ages of three to five years, in order to prepare them for school. I conclude that the outcomes curriculum fails to take these arguments into account and that it is more important that young children are well prepared for school, where trained teachers can then develop their literacy and numeracy skills.

My thesis concerns gender and home e-shopping in the UK. It is a study that consciously takes a critical approach in the research process and I draw on the powerful analytical tools of Pierre Bourdieu to discuss the cultures of consumption in which home e-shopping resides. This research includes qualitative enquiry using a longitudinal study of households, in-depth interviews and an on-line questionnaire as part of the research process. In this thesis I reflect on gender and home e-shopping that implies access to time, technologies and credit in a domestic setting. E-shopping is implicated in contemporary cultures of consumption and I situate this research in the political, social, economic and historical context of the so-called 'global knowledge economy' in which we live. My thesis is largely a critique of the concepts of a 'global knowledge economy' and individualistic and consumption-led explanations of everyday life. I began the research in 1999 at the height of the dotcom boom and at that stage questioned the 'hype' surrounding e-shopping. Focusing on gender and home e- shopping raises varied but more specific questions Clearly an issue is how new technologies have impacted not only on home e-shopping but in the household generally. The notion of the domestication of ICT's is at the heart of my data collection and analysis. I consider use of ICT's, the political economy of the gendered family and the role of the household in consumption, questioning how technologies are used in the home, which technologies, why, when and by whom. Invoking a critical research approach, my qualitative enquiry shows significant contradictions between governmental global economic rhetoric and the digital divide discourse employed and outcomes in practice on the 'home front' By referring to the work of Pierre Bourdieu, a sociologist and critical social theorist, I draw attention to the powerful theoretical lens that his work can provide for Information Systems researchers.