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This chapter outlines a unique collaboration between industry, academia and education to embed sustainability across the hairdressing sector. The chapter is in two parts with the first part written by Dr Denise Baden from the academic perspective. Dr Baden begins by outlining why the hairdressing sector is especially important to engage with respect to sustainability. Three projects run by the Southampton Business School, University of Southampton, and funded by the Economics and Social Research Council (ESRC) are then described. Lynda Whitehorn then expands upon the context of hairdressing practice, training and education from the perspective of Vocational Training Charitable Trust (VTCT) – a specialist awarding organisation which offers vocational and technical qualifications in a variety of service sectors, including hairdressing and barbering. In the process, we show how the collaboration between academia, industry and education enabled sustainable practice to become embedded across the sector.

Maria Anacleta described her life in Milan as follows (Maria Anacleta dictated the text in English, and the words in italics refer to Italian terms she used):I am a Filipina, I am [Maria Anacleta]. I came to Italy (…) with two of my friends. (…) I saw Rome, France, the Eiffel tower. My brother met me in Rome. Then I visited my Mom. My Mom was here in Milano [Milan], I saw her, I have been in the house with my mother and brother for seven months.When I found a job, I worked in _ [a city a few hours south of Milan]. My employer in _ died, but my soggiorno [work and resident permit] was ready. I met many Filipino people here and when I have no job, I work as a parrucchiere [hairdresser]: I cut their hair, and manicure them, to earn money.Now, after 3–4 years, I am very lonely, I remember my family, I want to return, but I have to wait for the renewal of my soggiorno. I cannot go home without my soggiorno because without it I cannot come back anymore.(…)When I was in the Philippines, cutting hair was really my job. That was what I did. And I made my children study. (…) One of them is a nurse, one studied in the hotel business, and one is in computer. (…) My husband worked in Saudi Arabia for 5 years. I am in the Philippines, I am in my shop, I am cutting hair, together with my children. They are still very young. He worked in an oil factory in maintenance, as a power plant operator. When he finished, he came to the Philippine and I told him “ok, you are finished working, so I will be the one to work, I will be the one to go abroad because I haven’t been.”

This research paper explores the role of women talk (schmoozing) and the gender gap in urban sociology. In the discussions concerning the changing face of the Dutch inner cities, there is an increasing tendency for attention to be paid to ethnicity, without a concomitant analysis of the impact of gender in these neighbourhoods. Many Dutch urban theorists focus on examining both the levels and effects of segregation in urban neighbourhoods and how this impacts integration and community building in the Netherlands. This study, in seeking to redress this imbalance, firmly places women at the centre of urban theoretical enquiry. Using the results of unstructured interviews and observation I am able to offer an assessment of the many ways in which ethnically embedded gender relations have impacted on the urban and social spaces known as Afrikaanderwijk. A key line of enquiry being: what role do women play and how are they visible in/at the local neighbourhood level, specifically in the form of everyday, informal social contacts?

Human beings are dependent upon social approval to strengthen their identities. Therefore, they practice impression management: They anticipate which behaviour provokes which reactions in their social environment, and they tend to exhibit the kind of behaviour that promises positive feedback. Based on the assumption that human beings also show this behaviour in their choice of vocation, we hypothesise that young people are more likely to expect negative reactions from their social environment when choosing a gender-atypical occupation. Furthermore, we assume that the expected reaction of the social environment influences vocational orientation: The anticipation of negative reactions to gender-atypical vocational choice might contribute to explain why young people ignore this occupation. We tested both hypotheses with the help of data retrieved from a survey of young people in Germany who are interested in vocational education and training (VET). The results support our hypotheses; however, they also show that the relevance of a gender-typed vocational choice is weaker if adolescents have a higher educational background. In this case, the choice of an occupation that expresses a high educational status becomes more important. It may lead to an exclusive kind of social approval that is denied to people with a lower educational background.

Enhanced revenue mobilization is essential in developing countries such as South Africa. However, it is inevitably a complex process, both from economic and political perspectives. Increasing the rate of value-added tax (VAT) has been identified as one option to increase tax revenue, although the likely effect of VAT rate changes on tax compliance behaviour is undetermined. This study considers the impact of such a change on the tax compliance behaviour of small business entities. In order to address the impact of VAT rate changes on tax compliance behaviour, a between-subjects pre-test/post-test online field experiment was conducted and designed to identify the implications of rate changes of various directions and magnitude.

Statistical analysis of the data obtained from the experiment indicated that small business entities are inclined to reduce the VAT liability when there is an increase in the VAT rate, and to do so by overstating purchases rather than under-declaring sales. This leads to an increase in non-compliance. The greater the magnitude of the VAT rate increase, the greater the level of non-compliance. In contrast, no significant relationships were identified between a decrease in the VAT rate and tax compliance.

Purpose – A crucial discussion within the feminist discourse in consumption studies concerns the role of the marketplace in women's emancipation. While some theorists argue that women in contemporary society employ marketplace resources to construct individual, multiple identities, critics call attention to the fact that this argument may be applicable exclusively to Western, white, middle-class women, who possess sufficient capital to participate fully in the consumer culture. Our aim is to demonstrate that non-Western women with limited capital resources can benefit from the self-realizing modern woman discourse criticized by the second wave feminist research stream.

Methodology/approach – In support of the above perspective, we analyze depth interviews with fourteen Romanian women, aged 23–51, who had been living in Italy for one to twelve years at the time of the interview.

Findings – The internalization of the modern woman discourse featured in the marketplace is closely and interactively connected to the acquisition of cultural capital, leading eventually to the adoption of a self-reflexive cosmopolitan strategy that allows women to individuate and effectively resist the dominating discourses in the home and host societies.

Originality/value of paper – Our chapter adds a global dimension to the second wave and postfeminism discussions of the role of the marketplace in women's gender role negotiation. We illustrate that the modern woman discourse featured in the marketplace may act as an emancipating force for women who originated in a patriarchal society. By doing so, we also offer an overlooked gendered perspective on the discourse of global consumer culture.