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The Construction of Collective Identity in the British Parachute Regiment: a Storytelling Approach

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The Construction of Collective Identity in the British Parachute Regiment: a Storytelling Approach Thornborrow, Thomas (2005) The construction of collective identity in the British Parachute Regiment: a storytelling approach. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Access from the University of Nottingham repository: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/12314/1/423311.pdf Copyright and reuse: The Nottingham ePrints service makes this work by researchers of the University of Nottingham available open access under the following conditions. · Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. · To the extent reasonable and practicable the material made available in Nottingham ePrints has been checked for eligibility before being made available. · Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not- for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. · Quotations or similar reproductions must be sufficiently acknowledged. Please see our full end user licence at: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/end_user_agreement.pdf A note on versions: The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher’s version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. For more information, please contact [email protected] The Construction of Collective Identity in the British Parachute Regiment: A Storytelling Approach. Thomas'Thornborrow MBA. Ba. (Hons). Dip. BA. Thesis submitted to Nottingham University For the Degree of Doctor of philosophy April 2005 ýýSTINQy rYý TheUniversity of Nottingham InformationServices Ethos - Thesis for digitisation Thesis details: Please exclude the following sections/pages: ALL Affe lvPk(- %S . BEST COPY AVAILABLE Variable print quality PAGENUMBERING AS FOUND IN THE ORIGINAL THESIS Contents Page No. Acknowledgements 1 ................................................................................................ Abstract .............................................................................................................................2 Glossary .............................................................................................................................3 Chapter 1. Introduction 12 ..................................................................................... 1.1 Introduction 12 ........................................................................................................ 1.2 Objectives the 12 of research .......................................................................... 1.3 Why identity 14 study stories? ....................................................................... 1.4 Why Paras? 15 study ............................................................................................ 1.5 Theoretical and methodological 16 approaches .................................. 1.6 Structure the thesis 17 of ................................................................................... Chapter 2. Literature review ........................................................................20 2.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................20 2.1.1 Rationale for literature 20 selection of ..................................................... 2.1.2 The linguistic turn in the 21 social sciences.......................................... 2.2 Narratives 22 and organisations ..................................................................... 2.2.1 Narrative to 24 analysis approaches organisation studies.............. 2.2.2 Narrative and literary theory 27 ................................................................ 2.2.3 Types and forms in 30 of narrative organisations ............................. 2.3 Identity identification identity 33 and organisational ....................... 2.3.1 Individual identity 33 ....................................................................................... 2.3.2 The identification 35 positive and negative processes of ................. 2.3.3 Organisational identity definitions - perspectives and ............... 39 2.3.4 Stability, multiplicity, and manageability of organisational identity 41 ............................................................................................................... 2.3.5 Image identity 45 reputation and ................................................................ i 2.4 Narrative identity 46 ............................................................................................. 2.4.1 Narrative identity literary theory and ...............................................46 2.4.2 Narrative identity life and stories........................................................ 50 2.43 Organisational identity narrative ........................................................54 2.5 Identity, narcissism, psychological contracts and dress.......... 55 2.6 Conclusion 60 ............................................................................................................ Chapter 3. Methodology 63 ................................................................................... 3.1 Introduction 63 ......................................................................................................... 3.2 Theoretical issues 64 ............................................................................................. 3.2.1 Ontological issues and epistemological ............................................64 3.2.2 Interpretive research .................................................................................66 3.2.3 Ethnographic and 68 autoethnographic research.............................. 3.2.4 Narrative 70 position voice and reflexivity ............................................ 3.3 Research design 73 ................................................................................................. 3.3.1 Defining the 74 sample.................................................................................... 3.3.2 Primary data 75 and secondary sources................................................. 3.3.3 The qualitative interview 80 ......................................................................... 3.4 Organisation the data 84 analysis and presentation of ................... 3.4.1 Transcription data 84 and storage............................................................ 3.4.2 Data storage................................................................................................... 86 3.4.3 Data 87 analysis and presentation ............................................................. 3.4.4 Reading data the .........................................................................................91 3.5 Conclusion 92 ............................................................................................................ 11 Chapter 4. The Parachute Regiment 94 .................................................... 4.1 Introduction 94 ......................................................................................................... 4.2 A brief history 95 .................................................................................................... 4.2.1 In the beginning 95 ........................................................................................... 4.2.2 North Africa Sicily Italy 97 and ................................................................. 4.2.3 Northern Europe 99 ......................................................................................... 4.2.4 Southern Europe 100 ......................................................................................... 4.2.5 Rhine Crossing to the WWII in Europe 101 end of ............................. 4.2.6 Peacetime 1946 2005 101 - .............................................................................. 4.2.7 The territorial battalion 104 ........................................................................... 4.2.8 The Parachute Regiment Association (PRA) 105 ................................. 4.3 The Paratrooper 105 making of a ................................................................... 4.3.1 Basic training 106 ................................................................................................ 4.3.2 The 107 challenge............................................................................................... 4.33 Regular Basic Parachute Course 108 ......................................................... 4.4 Dress, insignia, 109 symbols and cultural artifacts .............................. 4.5 Conclusion 111 ............................................................................................................ Chapter 5. Tam's story 113 ...................................................................................... 5.1 Introduction 113 ......................................................................................................... 5.2 Tam's 114 story .......................................................................................................... 5.3 Conclusion 131 ............................................................................................................ Chapter 6. Centrality 132 stories .......................................................................
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