Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Social aspects of Metamorphosis'

Social phobia is a disabling, lifelong disorder characterised by fear in social settings.

The aim of the present study was to gain more knowledge about diagnostic, neurobiologic and epidemiologic aspects of social phobia.

Thirty-two individuals were assessed by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I and II psychiatric disorders, the Karolinska Scales of Personality and the Temperament and Character Inventory. Social phobia was accompanied by concurrent axis I disorders in about 28% of individuals, lifetime axis I disorders in 54%, personality disorders in 60%, and avoidant personality disorder (APD) in 47%. This suggests that there is a high comorbidity between social phobia and APD according to the DSM-IV criteria. The personality profiles associated with social phobia were dominated by anxiety-related traits that were primarily related to social phobia itself and not to the presence of concurrent personality disorders.

Eighteen subjects with social phobia and eighteen controls were investigated with positron emission tomography and the radiolabeled serotonin precursor, [3 -11C]–5-HTP (5-HTP). Individuals with social phobia demonstrated proportionally lower regional relative whole brain accumulation of 5-HTP in areas of the frontal and temporal cortices as well as the striatum, but higher accumulation in the cerebellum. This suggests that there are imbalances in presynaptic serotonin function in individuals with social phobia, although this could only be confirmed in men, and not in women.

By means of a postal survey, distributed to 2000 randomly selected individuals, social phobia in Sweden was found to be common, with a point prevalence of 15.6%.

Using a qualitative, narrative based, and art based approach, this study explored the experiences of Asian domestic violence survivors living in an Asian-based domestic violence transitional shelter, and how their cultural identity as an Asian immigrant woman played a role in their experiences. The participants were two out of six women living at the domestic violence shelter provided by the Asian Pacific Women’s Center. Three overarching themes were formed after the analysis of all the emergent categories: The women experienced isolation that were influenced from their marginalized cultural values, the shelter was viewed as a foundation for growth, and the art was useful as a means for communication.

In the Arabian Gulf countries, the majlis is a central part of the house. The most public space within it, the majlis represents the household’s occupants to society and its social and economic status. As the house reflects culture and civilization, so the family is understood as a micro-level society of individuals raised in its institutions. Hence, the house is a manifestation of family structure, religious beliefs, and individual needs and desires, reflecting the family’s economic, cultural, and social backgrounds and aspirations. The majlis offers a unique space in Arab societies, articulating cultural and social factors that directly impact identity Accordingly, the design of the majlis and meanings associated with its constituents are essential to the discussion about Qatari culture and society from past to present (Rapoport 1969). Since the discovery of oil in Qatar, there has been a noteworthy change in the way that houses have been designed, with a major transformation in the use of house and majlis over the last few generations, including social factors such as family social structure, the role of women, kinship and its relationship with privacy and proximity, and economic factors such as the availability of disposable income. This research explores the evolution of house architecture in Qatar with a focus on the design and social impact of the majlis. The physical and social changes in the period between pre-oil discovery until today have created gaps between the built form, climate, and sociocultural activities. This research attempts to bridge this gap, concentrating on the majlis.

Social factors have long been included in theories that aim at explaining educational inequality, for example social integration or social influence from significant others. Using social network data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU), I am investigating to what extent social aspects can contribute to our understanding of ethnic and gendered patterns in educational inequality. The first two empirical chapters focus on explaining ethnic patterns in school grades and in the aspirations to attend university. In these, I find a positive relationship between low school grades and extent of social exclusion, measured through the absence of friendships and the existence of social rejection from classmates. This helps explaining ethnic grade disadvantages of recently arrived migrants, since they are more likely to be socially excluded. Further, I use friendship network data to detect social clusters within school classes, and find that changes in cluster members' aspirations are relatively more important for changes in individual aspirations than the corresponding changes of classmates outside of the social cluster. These chapters use an ego-centric network approach, i.e. they utilise social network data to capture characteristics of the social dimension around individuals and analyse them in regression models on the individual level. The latter two empirical chapters investigate how social influence can stabilise gendered patterns of favourite subjects and competence beliefs. Examining why girls get discouraged from subjects in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM), I find evidence for influence from friends on favourite subjects, as well as for the tendency of girls to be affected by the preferences of other girls in the classroom specifically when it comes to preferences for STEM subjects. Moreover, I show that there is a social influence from friends on maths competence beliefs, especially for boys, while girls tend to be more influenced by maths grades. These two chapters take a socio-centric approach, i.e. they deploy complete network analysis to detect patterns of social influence, while accounting for network structures and processes. This thesis shows that social aspects can contribute valuable insights into the study of educational choice and attainment. In identifying concrete social mechanisms surrounding and affecting individuals, this approach can thus help us understand how differences in educational outcomes come about.

MORAES, Brígia da Silva Amaro Lelis. Sobre o que transborda: narrativas de histórias de vida atravessadas pelo HIV e outras histórias. 2017. 74f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Psicologia, Fortaleza (CE), 2017.
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Essa pesquisa tem como objetivo compreender os sentidos dados pelos sujeitos que vivem com HIV/AIDS às suas experiências e aos sentimentos vivenciados nesse processo de reconhecimento ou negação das metamorfoses identitárias. É, pois, um estudo em Psicologia Social Crítica, com um embasamento teórico-metodológico construído a partir da obra de pensadores contemporâneos das teorias críticas. Aqui, entendida como este constante olhar de questionamento sobre a realidade posta. A metodologia utilizada, de caráter qualitativo, encontra no método de narrativas de história de vida uma possibilidade interessante de conhecimento da subjetividade humana. Partimos de uma concepção de sujeito que se implica no processo de constituição de suas experiências e, portanto, deve ser ouvido enquanto tal. Nesse sentido, não foi utilizado um questionário previamente estruturado para a realização das entrevistas, que aconteceram a partir das seguintes questões disparadoras: “Quem você é”? “Como você se tornou quem você é hoje”, “Quais seriam seus planos de futuro, agora?”. A análise dos relatos trazidos se dá a partir da proposta teórica metodológica apresentada por Ciampa, Almeida e Lima que preza pelos relatos de um narrador sobre sua existência através do tempo e os processos de negação e reconhecimento identitário. Os fragmentos de narrativas aqui apresentadas perfazem a constituição, em linhas gerais, de três personagens diferentes. Um efeito narrativo que conecta formas de vida no que elas trazem de mais frágil. Três formas de vida que nos convidam a um mergulho em suas realidades distintas e que dizem muito sobre os sentidos dados à experiência de viver a exclusão e o medo. Apresentamos aqui o cerne de uma pesquisa que busca compreender a vida. Mais que trazer relatos dos marcadores biológicos de uma doença que preocupa autoridades sanitárias em todo o mundo, este trabalho busca entender o modo como, todos os dias, damos continuidade as nossas histórias. Como considerações finais, falamos de quem somos e de como nos estruturamos a partir do resultado dinâmico da reposição constante de tudo que compõe nossas trajetórias em narrativas de vida outras que, por vezes, refletem a nós mesmos.

The field of industrial ecology aims to transform industry into cyclical systems so that the “waste of one process can be used as resource for another process” (Frosch and Galloupoulos, 1989). Within this field, Industrial Symbiosis (IS) has emerged as a set of exchange structures to advance to a more eco-efficient industrial system, by establishing inter-organisational networks of waste material and energy exchanges. Even though the area has attracted much academic attention and has been reported to lead to economic and environmental benefits (Chertow and Lombardi, 2005), initially, most of the contributions focused on the engineering and technical feasibility of the exchanges, whereas social elements remained mostly unaddressed. Although relevant literature has partly addressed this gap and recognized the role played by social aspects, there is still little understanding of how social mechanisms work; how they affect the emergence and operation of IS networks and, most importantly, there is a lack of comprehensive frameworks for the analysis of the soft elements of IS. This research has been designed to contribute to these areas, by exploring the social aspects surrounding IS networks and providing a framework for their analysis. The framework provided covers the material, social and discursive dimensions of IS networks and focus on the dynamic analysis of the interaction between them. The research design relies on the cross-comparison of a number of IS networks: Kalundborg (Denmark), Sagunto (Spain) and NISP (UK). Social Network Analysis and Discourse Analysis have been used as main methodological approaches. Findings of the research cover two key areas: 1) the formulation of a comprehensive analytical framework that addresses the social dimension of IS initiatives in a systematic and integrative way and 2) empirical learning on the main social processes affecting the operation of IS networks.

This thesis investigates the functional neuroanatomy of SAD [Social Anxiety Disorder] using an activation likelihood-estimate meta-analysis (ALE meta-analysis), and explores the structural basis of SAD using a cortical thickness and subcortical gray matter volume analysis.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD
The current study framed as Social Structuring of Language and the Mobility of Semiotic Resources across the Linguistic Landscapesof Zambia: A Multimodal Analysis, is situated in Lusaka and Livingstone and their selected surrounding peri-urban and rural spaces (of Kabanana, Bauleni and Chipata; Kafue, Chongwe, Chief Mukuni’s area and stretches between Livingstoneand Zimba and Livingstone and Kazungula). The study aims to explore the linguistic landscapes (LL) of these urban, peri-urban and rural spaces in order to gain insight into the social structuring of language and the mobility of semiotic resources across the LL. This entails an understanding of how languages are distributed and realized across the research sites. In particular, the study aims at understanding how the regionalization of languages is (re-)produced, contested and maintained in (and beyond) the territories for which they are promulgated for use. Thus, the study foregrounds the mobility of the semiotic resources across the LL. In essence, artefactual material, symbols including languages are, in a multimodal fashion, investigated to see their pliability and mobility from context to context. In the light of the mobility of the semiotic resources, the study privileges both translocal and transnational mobility as the force behind the movement and the dispersal of the semiotic material across ethnolinguistic, formal, informal, urban and rural boundaries. This meant understanding the kind of signs in both urban and rural areas and why they are emplaced in the broader context of sign/place-and meaning making. In order to achieve the aim and objectives, the study has been foregrounded in ethnographic research paradigm in which walk, gaze, talk (interview) and photography were of irreplaceable importance. The conflation of walk, gaze (observation), talk and photography in one investigation avails much. Firstly, the walk brought the researcher within the allowable observation range in order to gain an insider impression while, at the same time, maintaining the objectivity required for an unbiased analysis. Participant observation coupled with gaze offered the required positioning for carrying out a multimodal analysis especially in the rural areas which turned out to have the paucity of signage. Thus, by being a participant observer, I keenly observed how sign-and meaning making were accomplished in oral-dominant communities. This meant positioning oneself as a new comer needing direction. It was in such moments when practices of sign-and meaning making were observed and recorded. For example, I would ask: how do I get to the next village/school/headman? The reference to ecological features such as trees, hills and streams extended the taxonomy of signs available for use in rural areas. Interviews with business owners about the emplaced signs brought to the fore the hidden narratives often gushing out from individualized orientation and personal experiences, as well as the shared sociocultural knowledge and histories of both the producer and consumers of the multimodal LL. Photography yielded digital images forming not only the quantitative data but also the qualitative one upon which a multimodal analysis was done. The aim was to capture over 1500 of images which were to be processed by the Software Package of the Social Sciences (SPSS). Over 1500 images were collected but only 1157 were coded based on the languages present, materiality, inscription, and emplacement. The quantitative data arising from this exercise provided insight into the social structuring of language and mobility of the semiotic resources across the urban, peri-urban and rural spaces. These results were later compared with the national census reports. The analysis of images as qualitative data availed much about the multimodal nature of the signage in place. The analysis of the qualitative data was accomplished by multimodality in its evolve form. Kress and Van Leeuwen’s(2006) Grammar of Visual Design, Scollon and Sollon’s (2003) Geosemiotics, and theoretical concepts such as resemiotization, remediation, recontextualization, decontextualization, multivocality and metamorphosis provided a sound theoretical toolkit to analyse the multimodal/multisemiotic signage emplaced across the public spaces of the research sites. As a result of a robust methodology and theoretical base, the study was able to underpin the social structuring of language and the mobility of semiotic resources across the linguistic landscapes in a manner too apparent. First, apart from showing the linguistic heterogeneity of the research sites, the study shows that social structuring of languages being experienced is one that is predicated on predictability, flexibility, flux and indeterminacy. The results showing the social structuring of English, for example, demonstrate the uneven spread of English across the urban, peri-urban and rural spaces. In particular, the results go against the normative expectation that the urbanized centres of Lusaka and Livingstone would have more signs in English. Peri-urban (Kabanana) and rural (Chongwe/Kafue) spaces showed more signs in English. This suggests a disembodiment of language and locality as well as social actors. Moreover, the results showed the co-occupancy of English and local languages in one micro-space/time. This entails the blurring of boundaries between languages of different socio-political statuses. The bilingualsigns on which English and non-regional languages occur demonstrate the persistent percolation of minor languages onto the LL. The presence of regional languages, albeit differentially, in and beyond their regions for which they were promulgated reminds us that there is a counter hegemonic narrative going on in the LL of the research sites –in defiance of regionalization (zoning). Thus, the results show that languages in the research sites do not stay put where they are officially put by legislation. The conflation of multiple semiotic resources has further (re-)produced linguistic coinages resulting in what I refer to as a sociolinguistics of amalgamation predicated on hybridity, fusion and tr ans languaging. This evidence is framed within the trans local and transnational mobility where both the social actors and the semiotic resources are constantly in circulation. The study observes that mobility is not only restricted to local circulation of cultural materialities from urban to rural and rural to urban,but also a more transnational circulation of semiotic resources. For example, the ubiquitous spread of Chinese signage across the urban, peri-urban and rural LL accentuates the permeating effect of translocal and transnational mobility, leading to the de-territorialization of spaces. The study further shows the sociocultural narratives in place-and meaning making. Place and meaning making as an agentive act is premised on shared sociocultural knowledge and histories (Kress 2010), but is further exploited and extended by creatively drawing on individualized orientation, experiences and subjective sensibilities. In this regard, the study agrees with Hult (2009) that in order to glean the subjective narrations and re-imagining of space embedded in the emplaced signs, interviews with the owners of the emplaced signs is in dispensible. Thus, like Blommaert (2012) aptly suggests, spaces are semiotized as themed spaces. The study has shown how spaces are Christianized, moralized, gendered and anonymized, thus, gaining insight into the forces and meanings behind both the emplacement of and emplaced signs. Further, the reading of artefacts in Livingstone Museum shows how the juxtaposition of the material culture of multilingualism and multiculturalism is a semiotic strategy to double-articulate multiple localities simultaneously: local and global; familiar and unfamiliar; modern and tradition. The transaction of multi vocality in a single moment of emplacement and gaze transforms space dramatically and extends the meaning potential of the emplaced signage in micro-space/time. Further, the observable paucity of signs in rural areas forces us to defer to an ecological approach in which oral language mediation, recycling and repurposing of material affordances provide a comprehensive account of the signage and sign-making/consumption in place. form. Kress and Van Leeuwen’s(2006) Grammar of Visual Design, Scollon and Sollon’s (2003) Geosemiotics, and theoretical concepts such as resemiotization, remediation, recontextualization, decontextualization, multivocality and metamorphosis provided a sound theoretical toolkit to analyse the multimodal/multisemiotic signage emplaced across the public spaces of the research sites. As a result of a robust methodology and theoretical base, the study was able to underpin the social structuring of language and the mobility of semiotic resources across the linguistic landscapes in a manner too apparent. First, apart from showing the linguistic heterogeneity of the research sites, the study shows that social structuring of languages being experienced isone that is predicated on unpredictability, flexibility, flux and indeterminacy. The results showing the social structuring of English, for example, demonstrate the uneven spread of English across the urban, peri-urban and rural spaces. In particular, theresults go against the normative expectation that the urbanized centres of Lusaka and Livingstone would have more signs in English. Peri-urban (Kabanana) and rural (Chongwe/Kafue) spaces showed more signs in English. This suggests a disembodiment of language and locality as well as social actors. Moreover, the results showed the co-occupancy of English and local languages in one micro-space/time. This entails the blurring of boundaries between languages of different socio-political statuses. The bilingualsigns on which English and non-regional languages occur demonstrate the persistent percolation of minor languages onto the LL. The presence of regional languages, albeit differentially, in and beyond their regions for which they were promulgated reminds us that there is a counter hegemonic narrative going on in the LL of the research sites –in defiance of regionalization (zoning). Thus, the results show that languages in the research sites do not stay put where they are officially put by legislation. The conflation of multiple semiotic resources has further (re-)produced linguistic coinages resulting in what I refer to as a sociolinguistics of amalgamation predicated on hybridity, fusion and translanguaging. This evidence is framed within the translocal and transnational mobility where both the social actors and the semiotic resources are constantly in circulation. The study observes that mobility is not only restricted to local circulation of cultural materialities from urban to rural and rural to urban,but also a more transnational circulation of semiotic resources. For example, the ubiquitous spread of Chinese signage across the urban, peri-urban and rural LL accentuates the permeating effect of translocal and transnational mobility, leading to the de-territorialization of spaces. The study further shows the sociocultural narratives in place-and meaning making. Place and meaning making as an agentive act is premised on shared sociocultural knowledge and histories (Kress 2010), but is further exploited and extended by creatively drawing on individualized orientation, experiences and subjective sensibilities. In this regard, the study agrees with Hult (2009) that in order to glean the subjective narrations and re-imagining of space embedded in the emplaced signs, interviews with the owners of the emplaced signs is indispensible. Thus, like Blommaert (2012) aptly suggests, spaces are semiotized as themed spaces. The study has shown how spaces are Christianized, moralized, gendered and anonymized, thus, gaining insight into the forces and meanings behind both the emplacement of and emplaced signs. Further, the reading of artefacts in Livingstone Museum shows how the juxtaposition of the material culture of multilingualism and multiculturalism is a semiotic strategy to double-articulate multiple localities simultaneously: local and global; familiar and unfamiliar; modern and tradition. The transaction of multivocality in a single moment of emplacement and gaze transforms space dramatically and extends the meaning potential of the emplaced signage in micro-space/time. Further, the observable paucity of signs in rural areas forces us to defer to an ecological approach in which oral language mediation, recycling and repurposing of material affordances provide a comprehensive account of the signage and sign-making/consumption in place.

The objective of this study was to elucidate the possible importance of factors from the social environment for the development of depression. As a theoretical framework, Engel's biopsychosocial model (Engel, 1980), based on systems theory, has been applied. Proceeding from the single individual (characterized by experience, personality, behaviour) as the highest level of the organismic hierarchy the following system levels have been taken into account: dyads, family, community, culture-subculture. The depressive patients (n=lll) showed to be living in a narrowed social network and to lack confiding relationships compared with a non-psychiatric control sample (n=98). The personality characteristics (e.g. anxiety, detachment, suspicion) of the patients were related to experienced loneliness, contact difficulties, social network features and leisure activities. By means of a discriminant analysis 83% of the subjects could be correctly classified. In a study of perceived parental rearing, depressives showed to have experienced lack of emotional warmth. As regards social class an overrepresentation of social class III in the subgroups of unipolar, bipolar and unspecified depression was observed. Finally, implications for treatment are discussed in favour of a combination of drug and cognitive psychotherapy. Future research strategies are also suggested.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Umeå universitet, 1985, härtill 8 uppsatser.

digitalisering@umu

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore a new perspective within the sustainability of project management theoretical area. The research focuses on verifying the existence of  interconnections between Agile Project Management and Social Sustainability, and on understanding how Agile Project Management impacts organisational social dynamics from a Social Sustainability point of view. Research Methodology/ Approach/ Design: Through an in-depth single-holistic case study,  the research investigates the social dynamics taking place amongst the members of an international IT company, applying an agile project management framework since more than two years. A total of six extensive semi-structured interviews have been carried out with people covering different positions within the company. By working on qualitative data from the interviews, the researchers obtained an in-vivo set of interconnected concepts. The analysis work consisted in qualitatively analysing these concepts and relations in order to build a network diagram reproducing graphically the interconnections existing between Agile Project Management elements and the Social Sustainability factors proposed by Missimer et al. (2016a, 2016b). Research Findings: The findings - obtained through the analysis of the network diagram - have been analysed with the lenses of the five factors, that have not to be degraded in order to ensure the social sustainability of a social system. It has been found that implementation of Agile Project Management, within the company’s environment, has impacted the organisation’s social dynamics in several ways. These impacts influenced in a direct or indirect way individual’s “Health”, their “Capacity to Influence”, their “Capacity to Acquire New Competences”, and their “Capacity of Meaning-Making”. By analysing the type of influence APM has on these four aforementioned factors, it has been found that it influences positively all of them. This allowed us to conclude that, according to Missimer et al. definition of Social Sustainability, Agile Project Management shows several interconnections to Social Sustainability and that it seems to benefit organisational internal social dynamics making them more socially sustainable. Research limitations: Because of the exploratory nature of the research, the empirical study has been based on a single in-depth case study. However, generalisability of the findings are limited by the inherent limitations of this inquiry strategy. Further researches will allow to verify and eventually expand or complete the proposed model. Originality/value: This research contributes to a detailed understanding of the existing relations between Agile Project Management and Social Sustainability theory. This represents a completely new point of view in the studies of Sustainability of Project Management, suggesting the validity of a new stream of research focusing on Agile Project Management as a new project management process through which promote corporate sustainability.

This thesis presents the results of a multi-method exploration of the effects of collective dysphoric rituals on self-identification, group affiliation, and prosocial behaviour. Findings are presented from a worldwide sample of martial artists, student participants in artificial ritual experiments, and observers and performers of Shinto firewalking festivals in Japan. The thesis tests recent predictions of the Modes of Religiosity theory in regards to the psychological processes that underpin shared dysphoric rituals and various costly signalling theories concerning the group orientated consequences of participating in extreme ritual events. The results from the studies raise questions with the broader generalisability of recent findings linking collective dysphoric rituals and inclusive self- identification and urge for a more nuanced appraisal of associations with prosocial behaviour. Furthermore, the role of subjective positive assessment of dysphoric experiences is shown to be a topic that has been unduly overlooked and preliminary evidence is provided for a potential relationship with identity fusion. Methodologically the thesis presents a series of novel artificial ritual studies that offer initial evidence in support of shared dysphoria's ability to enhance cooperation and promote positive ingroup association.

This thesis examines how to take into account both environmental and social sustainability goals to be used in scenarios or in policymaking. In paper I, we select four sustainability goals that have to be fulfilled by 2050 in normative future scenarios for Sweden in a degrowth context. Two goals address ecological challenges, climate change and land use issues specifically. The other two goals address social issues and deal with participation and influence in society as well as resource security and distribution. The environmental goals will require significant reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and land use compared to today's levels. The social goals are within reach today, although the degree of fulfillment differs across different groups in society. In paper II, we review existing and suggested climate or energy targets at a global, national and local scale and search for justice perspectives or for proposals for such perspectives. We find that the justice aspect is not explicitly formulated in existing climate and energy targets and that, the community of justice i.e. the receivers of benefits or burdens, in our reviewed examples, is limited to human beings, thereby excluding all other living beings. In paper III, we assess how four different backcasting scenarios for land use in a Swedish context, all of which fulfil a climate target of zero CO2 emissions in 2060, impact on other sustainability goals. We conduct a goal conflict analysis between the chosen climate goal and the other Swedish environmental goals, the gender equity goals and the public health goal. We find that there are more potential goal conflicts in scenarios with no global climate agreement. From the results of all three papers, I then discuss several aspects that have to be taken into account when setting goals, such as the major uncertainties associated with long-term goals, the elusiveness, the normativity of goals and the need to separate goals from the means to achieve the goals.
Utsläpp av växthusgaser (GHG) och andra miljöproblem, såsom förlust av biologisk mångfald, markanvändning och övergödning av sötvatten och marina kustekosystem, är stora utmaningar för mänskligheten. De planetära gränser för dessa områden har redan överskridits. Av de 16 svenska miljömålen för 2020, vars syfte är att lösa dessa ödesfrågor, bedöms bara ett – "Ett skyddande ozonskikt" – uppnås i tid. Vad gäller sociala mål på global nivå fram till 2015 – FN:s Milleniemål – har visserligen betydande framsteg gjorts på en del områden, t.ex. jämställdhet i utbildningen, men utfallet skiljer sig mellan länder och inom länder med avseende på socioekonomisk grupp och kön. Denna avhandling undersöker hur man kan ta hänsyn till både miljömässiga och sociala hållbarhetsmål som ska användas i framtidsscenarier eller som underlag till beslutsfattande. I artikel I väljs fyra hållbarhetsmål i en tvärvetenskaplig process. Målen ska uppfyllas 2050 i s.k. normativa framtidsscenarier (backcasting) för Sverige i en kontext av nedväxt eller låg tillväxt. De två första målen handlar om klimatförändringar och markanvändningsfrågor. De två andra är sociala mål och omfattar delaktighet och inflytande i samhället samt tillgång till resurser och fördelning av dessa. För att uppnå de valda miljömålen, kommer drastiska minskningar av växthusgasutsläpp (GHG) och markanvändning att behövas, jämfört med dagens situation. Båda de sociala målen är inom räckhåll i dag, även om graden av uppfyllelse skiljer sig mellan olika grupper i samhället. I artikel II genomförs en kvalitativ dokumentanalys för att samla information om befintliga och föreslagna klimat- och energimål på global, nationell och lokal nivå. Vi letar också efter rättviseperspektiv i befintliga klimat- och energimål samt förslag till sådana perspektiv i föreslagna mål i den vetenskapliga litteraturen liksom i rapporter från miljöorganisationer. En slutsats är att rättvisa inte är uttryckligen formulerat i befintliga klimat- och energimål. Vi använder en teoretisk ram för social rättvisa som skiljer mellan vem som ger och får det som fördelas, vad som fördelas (rättvisevaluta) och hur det fördelas (distributionsprinciper). Utifrån vår analys fann vi att en egalitär princip används för de flesta föreslagna målen, exempelvis för globala mål om utsläpp av växthusgaser per capita. Samtliga av de granskade målen omfattar endast rättvisa mellan människor och exkluderar därmed andra levande varelser. I artikel III analyserar vi hur fyra olika backcastingscenarier för markanvändning i ett svenskt sammanhang år 2060 påverkar andra hållbarhetsmål när ett klimatmål om noll CO2-utsläpp är uppfyllt. Med hjälp av en matris gör vi en målkonfliktanalys med de övriga svenska miljömålen, jämställdhetsmål och mål för folkhälsan med dess 11 tillhörande målområden. Analysen visar att de potentiella målkonflikterna är fler i scenarier utan globalt klimatavtal. Detta beror främst på att vissa miljöfrågor måste behandlas på global nivå, samt att minskningen i miljöpåverkan kommer att bero på åtgärder som inte bara vidtagits i Sverige utan också globalt. Utifrån dessa tre artiklar diskuterar jag sedan olika aspekter som måste beaktas vid fastställandet av mål. Eftersom hållbarhetsmål är långsiktiga och kännetecknas av en hel del osäkerhet diskuterar jag behovet av att sätta upp "försiktigt utopiska mål" (cautiously utopian goals), det vill säga mål som kan vara omöjliga att uppnå, men möjliga att närma sig. Sådana mål kan få till stånd de djupgående förändringar som krävs för en hållbar och rättvis framtid samtidigt som de är acceptabla för de intressenter som berörs. Mål är ofta otydliga vad gäller vad som ingår eller inte. Vad gäller klimatmålen, exempelvis, är det ofta otydligt huruvida utsläpp från handel är inkluderade eller ej och vilket referensår en viss utsläppsminskning baseras på. Sådana avgränsningar bör synliggöras och helst diskuteras med avseende på hur de kan påverka till exempel andra länders utsläppsminskningar. Det finns också ett behov att skilja mål från medel för att uppnå målen, eftersom det gör det möjligt att formulera mål som kan uppnås på olika sätt. Ekonomisk tillväxt ses ofta som ett mål i sig, såsom i FN:s nya hållbarhetsmål (SDGs). Tillväxt borde dock betraktas som ett rent verktyg för att uppnå egentliga mål rörande, exempelvis, välbefinnande. Mål är också normativa och återspeglar både olika kulturella och etiska perspektiv på vad en god hälso- och sjukvård eller bostadsstandard bör vara. De underliggande värdena bör därför också synliggöras och ifrågasättas. Både inter- och intragenerationella rättviseperspektiv bör göras mer konkreta och tydliga så att sådana frågor kan följas upp. En bra start kan vara att förutom ett territoriellt perspektiv börja använda ett konsumtionsperspektiv vid upprättandet av klimat-eller markanvändningsmål, då effekten av vår konsumtion på andra länders miljö och hälsa har ökat under de senaste årtiondena.

QC 20160901

Beyond GDP Growth

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a way of doing business that assumes a more active role in relation to everyone involved in such activity and to anyone who could be affected in anyway by it. Thus, the corporation becomes an agent who must adopt principles and policies for all of its activities, not only to prevent negative consequences but also to obtain larger benefits for its workers, shareholders, neighbors, community, among others.This paper analyses if the expenses on CSR are tax deductible for Income Tax purposes, focusing mainly in what is referred to as social and environmental expenses, which are the ones that demand the most resources.
La Responsabilidad Social Corporativa (RSC) es una forma de realizar actividades empresariales asumiendo un rol más activo en relación a todos aquellos que forman parte de dicha actividad y de aquellos que pueden verse afectados de otra manera por las mismas. Así la empresa pasa a ser un actor que debe adoptar principios y políticas que acompañen a todas sus actividades no sólo para que no tengan consecuencias adversas, sino para que las mismas tengan mayores beneficios para sus trabajadores, accionistas, vecinos, comunidad, entre otros.En el artículo se analiza si los Gastos de responsabilidad social son deducibles para fines del Impuesto a la Renta, enfocándonos principalmente en los denominados gastos sociales y ambientales que son los que mayores recursos demandan.

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative neurological condition which affects motor control, in almost all cases involving speech, and is frequently of many years duration. Much is known about speech production but less of the psychosocial consequences of the speech impairment (dysarthria). Accounts of people with dysarthria have shown that its impact on quality of social participation can be varied and profound. However, level of participation has not been investigated. Reduction in social activity and social networks has been found following onset of other neurogenic communication disorders. In Parkinson's disease there is some evidence of social activity reduction but this has not been studied in relation to severity of dysarthria. Social anxiety has been found to be raised in speakers with other speech production impairments and this may be a contributor to reduction in social engagement. Investigation of social variables is of importance in understanding relationships within a biopsychosocial model of health which underpins intervention for therapies for communication disorders. Aims The study aimed to investigate the impact of dysarthria on social participation and whether presence of dysarthria in Parkinson's disease (PD) resulted in changes to social anxiety, social networks and social activity. It further sought to investigate whether severity of dysarthria resulted in changes to the same variables. Method A group of 43 mild-moderately dysarthric speakers with PD were recruited. Exclusion criteria were applied to control for cognitive impairment, depression, apathy, movement disability and co-occurring neurological and communication impairment. A group of 30 non-neurologically impaired participants were recruited matched for age, sex, socioeconomic status and educational attainment. Participants with PD were further grouped using measures of sentence intelligibility and motor speech impairment into higher and lower functioning groups. All participants completed a social anxiety questionnaire, a social activity checklist and detailed their social network. Group data were compared to address the research questions. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with all participants to explore change to social life and perceptions of causes of change. Results Participants reported a range of changes to interaction and social engagement arising from speech and other impairments and also from intra and interpersonal contextual factors. Quantitative data showed that presence of dysarthria was associated with social anxiety and avoidance but not changes to social activity level or social network size. Greater severity of dysarthria was associated with deterioration in social activities and social network. There was wide individual variation on these variables. Outcomes Impact of dysarthria may be significant and unrelated to severity of impairment and satisfaction with level of activity is low in dysarthric speakers. Mild - moderately dysarthric speakers with PD may experience social anxiety in particular types of social situation. Moderately dysarthric speakers may experience loss of social capital in terms of quantitative changes in social networks and social activities. Motor speech impairment was a better predictor of social functioning than intelligibility in this sample. It is possible that a threshold for change lies at a more severe level of speech involvement. How speakers with PD perceive and experience their social interactions is discussed and limitations to the research are considered. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to the ICF framework and the concept of social capital.

This portfolio has three parts. The first is a systematic literature review, in which the psychological and social factors associated with successful weight loss after bariatric surgery are reviewed. The second part is an empirical paper, which investigates the experiences of women who have successfully lost weight following bariatric surgery, specifically with reference to changes in self-concept. Seven women were interviewed and emergent themes were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Nine subthemes were identified, clustered into three superordinate themes: (1) 'obesity as socially unacceptable', (2) 'making a case for surgery', and (3) 'the slim self as socially acceptable'. Links to self-concept were made, and clinical implications were discussed. The third part of the portfolio comprises of the reflective statement and appendices.

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Division of Humanities, Department of English, 2007.
Bibliography: p. 239-289.
Introduction -- Fantastic metamorphosis as childhood 'otherness' -- The metamorphic growth of wings : deviant development and adolescent hybridity -- Tenors of maturation: developing powers and changing identities -- Changing representations of werewolves: ideologies of racial and ethnic otherness -- The desire for transcendence: jouissance in selkie narratives -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Appendix: "The great Silkie of Sule Skerry": three versions.
My central thesis is that fantastic motifs work on a metaphorical level to encapsulate and express ideologies that have frequently been naturalised as 'truths'. I develop a theory of motif metaphors in order to examine the ideologies generated by the fantastic motif of metamorphosis in a range of contemporary children's and young adult fantasy texts. Although fantastic metamorphosis is an exceptionally prevalent and powerful motif in children's and young adult fantasy literature, symbolising important ideas about change and otherness in relation to childhood, adolescence, and maturation, and conveying important ideologies about the world in which we live, it has been little analysed in children's literature criticism. The detailed analyses of particular metamorphosis motif metaphors in this study expand and refine our academic understanding of the metamorphosis figure and consequently provide insight into the underlying principles and particular forms of a variety of significant ideologies.
By examining several principal metamorphosis motif metaphors I investigate how a number of specific cultural beliefs are constructed and represented in contemporary children's and young adult fantasy literature. I particularly focus upon metamorphosis as a metaphor for childhood otherness; adolescent hybridity and deviant development; maturation as a process of self-change and physical empowerment; racial and ethnic difference and otherness; and desire and jouissance. I apply a range of pertinent cultural theories to explore these motif metaphors fully, drawing on the interpretive frameworks most appropriate to the concepts under consideration. I thus employ general psychoanalytic theories of embodiment, development, language, subjectivity, projection, and abjection; poststructuralist, social constructionist, and sociological theories; and wide-ranging literary theories, philosophical theories, gender and feminist theories, race and ethnicity theories, developmental theories, and theories of fantasy and animality. The use of such theories allows for incisive explorations of the explicit and implicit ideologies metaphorically conveyed by the motif of metamorphosis in different fantasy texts.
In this study, I present a number of specific analyses that enhance our knowledge of the motif of fantastic metamorphosis and of significant cultural ideologies. In doing so, I provide a model for a new and precise approach to the analysis of fantasy literature.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
[12], 294 p

Aspects of the social networks of anorexic (N=34) and non-anorexic (N=35) women were examined according to hypotheses derived from social network theory and research and from the literature pertaining to anorexia nervosa. The nature of the social network was discussed from the perspective of Pattison's (1977a) psychodynamic psychosocial systems theory. Subjects were compared on selected social network variables using the Pattison Psychosocial Inventory (PPI). The California Psychological Inventory (CPI) and the Family Environment Scale (FES) were used to investigate the contribution of certain personality and environmental variables to social network variation. Statistical analyses of the difference between means were tested using the Hotelling's T² procedure followed by univariate t-tests. Analyses of proportions were performed using z-tests. The Bonferroni inequality was employed in order to reduce the probability of Type I error when determining the statistical significance of the univariate t-tests and z-tests. The null hypothesis was accepted for the majority of the results. Only one social network variable, total network size, significantly differentiated anorexic and control subjects, although several other variables were approaching statistical significance. Various contrasting explanations of the results were discussed. For example, it is possible that anorexia nervosa is not a homogeneous or singular nosological entity and does not inevitably result in predictable and largely invariant social impairment. It was proposed that recent typologies of anorexia nervosa may yield significant between-group variation in social network variables. Furthermore, social networks may vary with the degree of severity and/or chronicity of the anorexic condition. The correlational analyses produced several statistically significant results. Regarding environmental (FES) variables, both cohesion and independence were positively correlated with support from family network members. Contrary to hypotheses, however, interpersonal effectiveness (CPI) achieved only weak and non-significant correlations with social network size and support.
Education, Faculty of
Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of
Graduate

A presente investigação teve por objetivo estudar a história de vida de uma família em um bairro (localizado em uma cidade do Vale do Paraíba-SP) estigmatizado pela violência. Buscou-se, com este estudo de caso, a melhor compreensão da maneira como a violência opera neste lugar e quais as consequências disso para as identidades de seus moradores no caso, os membros da família entrevistada. O método utilizado para a coleta de dados foi o percurso comentado / itinerário, o qual consiste em caminhadas com os sujeitos da pesquisa pelos lugares onde vivem, enquanto relatam sua história de vida nestes lugares. A postura adotada para a realização dos procedimentos de coleta inspirou-se na abordagem etnográfica, atentando-se pra as peculiaridades de uma etnografia contemporânea. Para a apresentação dos dados foi escolhida a forma de narrativas de personagens, fazendo-se um paralelo com a história de Lewis Carroll Alice no país do espelho (ou Alice através do espelho e o que ela encontrou por lá), e cotejando-se com observações da pesquisadora. A análise dos dados teve inspiração na análise literária e na escrita etnográfica, ou seja, articulando os momentos de estar lá (no campo da pesquisa) e de estar aqui (de volta à universidade), e buscando a interpretação das narrativas à luz de teorias que versem sobre os temas emergidos das falas. A partir dos relatos e da articulação teórica oferecida neste trabalho, buscou-se visualizar de forma mais clara o possível caminho através do qual emerge o que se chamou de violência no território estudado. Para isso, o trabalho apoiou-se em teorias psicossociais e dramatúrgicas da identidade, tais como a do interacionismo simbólico, focalizando o processo de estigmatização, tal como entendido por Goffman. E para o melhor entendimento da dinâmica social atuante no território em questão, buscaram-se subsídios em teorias provindas da psicologia socioambiental, em particular, a contribuição dos estudos urbanos, e, ainda, em teorias que versam sobre a marginalidade social, tais como a obra de Quijano. A título de conclusão, poder-se-ia entender que a questão da violência não pode ser atribuída somente a características individuais, nem apenas à sociedade em que o indivíduo se encontra inserido. Espera-se ter evidenciado, através das discussões, que a problemática existente no território estudado a questão da violência pode ser identificada como resultado ou até como um elemento intrínseco a determinadas interações humanas e estruturas sociais (estereotipadas, hierarquizadas e subjugadoras, gerando, assim elementos marginais); e que a sua maior contraposição é representada pela possibilidade de metamorfose (nos âmbitos individual e coletivo, constituindo aquilo que é propriamente humano) e pela participação verdadeiramente ética e política, de atores sociais capazes de serem protagonistas não somente de suas próprias histórias mas também do contexto que os rodeia
This research aimed to study the life history of a family in a neighborhood (a city located in Vale do Paraíba-SP) stigmatized by violence. We sought, with this case study, a better understanding of how violence operates in this place and which are the consequences for the identities of its residents - in this case, the family members interviewed. The method used for data collection was the route commented / itinerary, which consists of walking with the subjects in the places where they live, while reporting his story of life in these places. The posture adopted for carrying out the procedures of collection was inspired by the ethnographic approach, considering the peculiarities of a contemporary ethnography. For the presentation of the data, we chose the form of narratives of characters, making a parallel with the story of Lewis Carroll - \"Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There\"), and interpolating with observations of the researcher. Data analysis took inspiration in literary analysis and ethnographic writing, ie, articulating the moments of \"being there\" (in the research field) and \"being here\" (back to the university), and sought the interpretation of the narratives under the light of theories that deal with the themes emerged from the speeches. Based on the narratives and on the theoretical articulation offered in this work, we attempted to visualize more clearly the possible path through which emerges what is called \"violence\" in the studied territory. For this, the work was based on psychosocial and dramaturgical theories of identity, such as the symbolic interactionism, focusing on the process of stigmatization, as understood by Goffman. And for the better understanding of the social dynamics acting in the territory in question, we sought grants in theories of environmental psychology, in particular, the contribution of urban studies, and also in theories that deal with the social marginality, such as the work of Quijano. In conclusion, it would be possible to understand that the issue of violence can not be attributed only to individual characteristics, nor only to the society in which the individual is inserted. We expect to have demonstrated, through the discussions, that the existing problematics in the study area - the issue of violence - can be identified as a result or even as an intrinsic element to certain human interactions and social structures (stereotyped, hierarchical and dominator, generating, this way, marginal elements); and that his greatest contraposition is represented by the possibility of metamorphosis (at the individual and collective levels, constituting what is properly human) and by the truly ethical and political participation of social actors, capable of being not only the protagonists of their own stories but also of the context that surrounds them

This dissertation investigates the transformative possibilities inherent in a contemporary urban artefact in Jeppestown, a significant historical suburb dating back to the settlement of early prospectors who sought a precious yellow metal beneath the red earth of a treeless veld. On this veld today stands the City of Johannesburg. The Johannesburg metropolis is scarred by the intersection of differences between those who have inhabited its streets. It has endured these differences and become a part of them through the multiple generations of its lifetime. Jeppestown or Jeppe to its residents, endures today with latent markings of apartheid as a transitional industrial buffer area west of the Johannesburg Central Business District (CBD). Jeppe exists today as a piece of this narrative and is one of the longest threads in the chronology of the habitation of the greater Johannesburg city. Imminent threats of gentrification and signs of poorly considered urban renewal schemes aimed at the transformation of public space in Jeppe provoke the following questions: What is the potential role of Jeppe within the greater metropolis? And how could the transformation of urban form in this context, through the act of design, begin to transform its potential value, meaning and significance as a place of belonging and becoming – to both those who currently inhabit it and the greater population of the fluctuating metropolis that surrounds it? The proposed intervention is situated in the vicinity of Jeppe market and train station. It forms a part of an investigative framework of architectural and landscape interventions along a regenerative urban spine that connects the station square to Gilfillan Park (Jeppe Park). The objective of the framework is defined as the conditional amplification of extant rituals, negotiated territories and lives & deaths through the introduction of responsive and constructive spatial interventions and the reconciliation of these with the existing fabric. Jeppestown is the subject of this inquiry and intervention, yet its post-apartheid predisposition in the urban context is not exclusive. The intention of the study through design is to postulate and identify a manner of working within the means of the architectural discipline, that itself is aligned with the endeavour of fostering an approach toward place making in the contemporary South African metropolis. This text serves as a record of events that have unfolded through the thoughts, actions and adopted processes for the design and investigation of a transformative urban artefact manifested as a social club in Jeppestown, Johannesburg.
Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2014.
Architecture
MArch(Prof)
Unrestricted

This dissertation revolves around three main elements: 'male infertility'; existing social science research on infertility; and ethno methodology. The substantive topic 'male infertility' is enclosed in quotation marks for two reasons. First, following the overall form of ethno methodological inquiry, the aim is to explicate how the sense and order of 'male infertility' is constituted through available socially organised procedures; hence, the quotation marks are used to 'bracket' the phenomenon and focus on the methods that make it available. Second, 'male infertility' is a convenient shorthand topic label, a general organising concept, as opposed to a precise label for a tightly defined phenomenon. While this study's approach makes it very different to existing sociological studies of infertility, the difference is not to the extent of isolation - a strong attempt is made to engage with prior studies. Often this engagement takes a critical form, the general argument being that sociological studies which approach phenomena for the way they 'bear the marks' of societal structures, will ignore the incarnate orderliness of social action - that is, the way social action is readily explicable to members, in and as it occurs, using the resources at-hand, with 'no time-out'. Ethno methodology suggests that this ready explicability is based upon taken-for-granted, socially organised sense-assembly practices - thus, this study's argument that the content, the intelligibility of 'male infertility is interdependent with the social scenes and embedded socially organised procedures, with and within which 'male infertility' is found. Form and content stand or fall together. Consistent with this viewpoint, four empirical analyses of the social organisation of 'male infertility' are offered. The specific topics discussed are: the conversational disclosure of infertility; the language of reproduction; humour and infertility; and high rates of non-response by men in studies of infertility. In general, the empirical analyses are 'indifferent' to the topic of study, that is, there is no overriding aim of offering practical correctives or broader socio-political critique. However, in at least one empirical chapter a more critical stand is taken, and, in the concluding chapter, it is argued that an ethno methodological descriptivist approach can have socio-political implications. Overall, the study supports the growing trend for ethno methodological insights to be utilised in the study of substantive topics; and, since the dissertation is a form of writing 'anew', it can be considered to minimally change 'male infertility' as a form of life.

Chapter 1 introduces the work, providing an overview of the common themes underlying the research and outlining the focus and approach particular to each project. Chapter 2 proposes a game-theoretic model that shows how moral preferences can emerge endogenously to promote material outcomes and traces their relationships with the fundamentals of the environment. The analysis indicates that the instilling of moral values can act as a commitment mechanism that counteracts the detrimental effects of behavioural biases. The greater the effect of such biases on the agents’ decisions (and, thus, payoffs), the more expanded the scope for morality. The study in chapter 3 tests the performance of a leading account of social preferences, namely the model of inequality aversion proposed by Fehr and Schmidt (1999), in tracking behaviour. It does so through an appropriately designed experiment. The aim is to evaluate if the account can consistently anticipate people’s behaviour. The results suggest that the model performs well only with respect to people that exhibit either very high or very low aversion to advantageous payoff inequality. The study in chapter 4 repeats the exercise reported in chapter 3, this time with respect to an account of social preferences that builds on the idea of social norm compliance, in particular, the one proposed by Krupka and Weber (2013). The aim is again to evaluate if the model performs well in consistently tracking people’s behaviour. The results do not offer much support for the explanatory power of the model. The individuals that exhibit the least concern about adhering to social norms and are choosing the payoff-maximising options are the only ones the actions of whom match the model’s predictions. Chapter 5 summarises the findings of this thesis and concludes.

 The relationship between Internet technology and human beings has been the main focus in the realm of Internet study. Those studies, generally speaking, either paid attention to the political, economical and social influences of the burgeoning Internet technology on human society, or focusing on the changing of human behavior, attitudes and psychological conditions in the Internet technological environment. Lacking of considering the core nature of Internet technology, most of studies, though proposed many insightful arguments, cannot explain why and in what way the Internet has such great influences on human beings. Since the Internet technology constructed the cyberspace, its relationship with human beings has been undoubtedly influenced by the inherent nature of the Internet. Examining the intrinsic nature and the bias of Internet technology, this study proposes the concept of cyber-micropower to describe the power relationships in the Internet field, and explores the origins of cyber-micropower. By investigating the formation and operational mechanism of the three kinds of cyber-micropower – information micropower, context micropower and subject micropower, this study provides a new analytical framework to the Internet study as well as understanding various cyberspace phenomena. The qualitative methods, especially critical literature research, online participant observation, and oral history are adopted to make thick description of various online phenomena, get empirical online data and develop the key concept of cyber-micropower. Particularly, the formation of information micropower is examined through the phenomenon of online free. Based on the analysis of online virtual identity, the formation process of context micropower and subject micropower can be developed. Then, the operational mechanism of cyber-micropower was mainly investigated through human flesh searching phenomenon. Briefly, this study argues that the bias of Internet technology is liquidity. As the core features of the Internet, both digitalization and networking of information directly reflect the widespread requiring for liquidity. This liquid Internet plays the role by empowering cyber subjects. Cyber-micropower, then, is the liquid networking relations among cyber subjects. During online interactions and the Internet use, cyber subjects always tend to make surveillance and self-surveillance, restriction and self-restriction, group participating and other ways, through which cyber subjects adapted to the new liquid cyber contexts and relations, as well as positioning their own locations in the liquid network. This new liquid disciplinary model in the “many watch the many” kind of cyberspace is the operational mechanism of cyber-micropower. Accordingly, disciplined cyber subjects and cyber conditions are like numerous panopticons superimposed together. Then, this study further argues that with the development of Internet technology, the liquid may be faster, and a larger scale of digitalization and intensive networking will follow. Such trends, though may liberate human beings initially, will go beyond humans’ ultimate state in the end. The liquid nature of information restricts cyber subjects’ ability of self-reflexive and understanding. And the liquid cyberspace may promote multiple and unstable virtual identities. As a result, cyber subjects’ cyber-micropower will become more fragile and sensitive. And the human nature may also be networked and liquefied gradually. Yet, when human beings become numerous nodes in the liquid network, not only their traditional ethics and morality are in the danger of reversing, but also the meaning of humans’ existence may be challenged.
published_or_final_version
Linguistics
Doctoral
Doctor of Philosophy

The psychological aspects of propensity to offend are considered. The relationship between attitude, personality, and reported offending is explored. Some literature considers how attitude influences offending; others look at the relationship between personality and offending. The present thesis proposes that there is a complex relationship between all three. The Attitude to Offending Style Scale measures preferences towards hypothetical offending styles. Shultzs’ FIRO-B explores the structure of interpersonal personality. Finally, an adaptation of Youngs’ D42 (D45) explores styles and level of reported offending. 254 members of the general public complete each of these self-report scales. An SSA-I tests the construct validity and structure of the scales stated above. Multiple regression analyses explore the relationship between attitude and personality, and how these influence level of reported offending. The moderating role of interpersonal personality is also considered. The findings reveal that Attitudes are categorized as: Instrumental or Expressive high risk, and Low risk. Shultzs’ FIRO-B scale has four facets: Expressed Inclusion Expressed Control, Received Inclusion and Received Control. Finally, reported offending is categorised as More or Less serious, Instrumental or Expressive, and target Person or Property. Results show that variations in attitude and personality styles are related to level of reported offending. Furthermore, it was found that the relationship between attitude and level of reported offending is moderated by level of ‘Received Control’. More specifically, when an individual shows a positive attitude towards Instrumental high risk crimes and feel ‘controlled by others’, their level of reported offending is also likely to be high. The presented research shows the value of considering attitudes towards offending, the moderating role of interpersonal personality, and how this relates to level of reported offending. The methods employed throughout the thesis demonstrate the strength and validity of self-report measures. Results are applicable to many areas, including direction and methods in future research. The findings can be applied to areas such as rehabilitation, interview techniques and preventative measures.

Rapidly rising levels of car ownership in newly developed economies and increasing travel demand worldwide over the past several decades have intensified the negative externalities of transportation, such as traffic congestion and air pollution. To develop policies that mitigate these problems through managing and controlling travel demand, it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of the determinants of individuals’ activity-travel behavior. A considerable amount of research has been conducted around the impact of the built environment on travel behavior. As well, over the past decade, the social contexts of travel have gradually been recognized as important explanatory factors of activity-travel behavior. Thus, the link between social contexts and activity-travel behavior has become a much discussed research topic recently. This study aims to contribute to this growing literature by investigating three important but under-explored areas related to the connection between social contexts and activity-travel behavior: 1) how social network attributes influence the choice of companions for conducting daily activities and travel; 2) how personal social networks and neighborhood social environments influence activity location choices and time use; and 3) how the dynamics of social networks and changes in residential social environments induce activity-travel behavior changes as a result of home relocation. This study adopts a longitudinal design and uses both cross-sectional data and longitudinal panel data. Multivariate modelling approaches including Structure Equation Modelling (SEM), multilevel logistic regression and a doubly censored Tobit model are employed. Findings from this study show that social network variables are significant determinants in explaining individuals’ engagements in joint/solo activities/travel and choices of companions for joint activities. Social network attributes and neighborhood social environments are also found to significantly influence individuals’ choices between in- and out-of-neighborhood locations for activities and time use. The study also demonstrates that changes in travel after residential relocation are induced by changes both in the built and social environments as well as the geography of social networks. These findings contribute to the knowledge about the social contexts of activity-travel behavior.

This study presents findings from qualitative research that focused on how couples who had been remarried for 5 years talk about their strong remarriage. Ten remarried couples were recruited to be interviewed independently. Using a semistructured interview survey, the interviews were recorded and transcribed. The entire interviews were analyzed and coded to explore aspects of strong remarriages. Prevalent factors that contribute to strong remarriages were identified, which include: commitment, love, religion/spirituality, communication, compatibility, financial agreement, and physical intimacy. Expectations of remarriage were explored with the majority of participants reporting that their remarriage exceeded their expectations. The findings contribute to the literature and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

Surprisingly enough, while it is generally acknowledged that emotion plays a vital part in the negotiation of every day life, there has been until recently a scarcity of communications scholarship directly concerned with its study. To date, those examining this variable have largely relied for the theoretical and methodological support on models imported from psychology. While their studies have arguably had a positive impact on our understanding of some aspects of emotion, this dissertation contends that an over-dependence on psychological theories and methods has resulted in a blinkered approach to its study. In general, the focus of research and scholarship has been on either display and recognition of facial expression, physiological response to environmental stimuli, subjective verbal labeling, and behavioral manifestation. On closer inspection, a positivist discourse which considers emotion in methodologically individualistic and empirically behavioral terms has informed much of this work. Building on behaviorism, intentionalist analytical philosophy, and phenomenology, emotion research in Communication Studies has tended to neglect the social. More sophisticated approaches to grasping this latter variable, found in Sociology and Anthropology, consequently have had little impact, leading communications scholars to consistently define emotion in terms of individual motivations, drives, desires, wants, and dispositions rather than as a process located in a social world.
In light of this, this dissertation strove not only to assemble a history and provide a critique of emotion study in psychology, but to relate it to advances being made in Sociology and Anthropology, especially those pertaining to communication and postmodernity. Alongside this, it endeavored to: (1) furnish a theory and methodology for explaining those relationships; (2) illuminate a way in which emotion can be reconceived as a formative and independent social variable integral to the reproduction of postmodernity; and (3) analyze the practices and discourses that have contributed to the historically changing, oftentimes, inconsistent and disputed, study of emotion. After the principle issues were introduced in the opening Chapter, the second Chapter outlined the relationships between emotion, the everyday, media, and postmodernity, with the everyday representing a key theoretical construct necessary for understanding our time. This Chapter closed with an exploration of so-called postmodern emotion. Using several theoretical frameworks, Chapter 3 tracked historical, discursive, and disciplinary interests in emotion and Chapter 4 relations between theories of emotions through pre-modern (5thC B.C.-1890), modern (1890-1960), and postmodern (1960-) periods. Next, Chapter 5 charted the etymologies of the primary emotion terms, while Chapter 6 explored approaches to the study of emotion in Communication Studies, or Communicology. After an initial analysis of 'bibliometric' data, the three primary traditional approaches were then systematically identified and examined. A fourth postmodern approach, the constructionist, was presented and assessed in the last Chapter. There it was argued that, from this perspective, communication constitutes reality and not merely provides a conduit for preformed intentional and emotional states. There, the concept of social emotion was advanced, the idea of emotion as socio-culture performance developed, and a rules based theoretical f

This thesis is the first dedicated sociological attempt to offer a critical response to cultural studies and allied discourses that concern themselves with the relationship between technology and violence. A critical reconstruction is necessary because these cultural theorists have failed to adequately contextualize their arguments in relation to both the globally ascendant neoliberal policy outlook and its associated social Darwinian technoculture: the combined pernicious effects of which could be described as the logic of ???social constructionism as social psychosis???. The most prominent manifestation of this theoretical psychosis has to do with an interest in biotechnology in particular. The problem I identify in the treatment of this theme is how easily it can be used to support a technologically determinist position. One undesirable side effect is that these determinists are able to project from present trends a dystopian exhaustion of all critique through their focus on violence. In the thesis of ???bioglobalism??? this state of affairs is also deployed to take sociologists to task for insufficient recognition of processual ???network??? forms of distributed agency in technological processes. At stake therefore is the recovery of sociological critique. It follows that the core of my thesis is the radical reworking of two related heuristic devices: seriality and contingency. Seriality is taken to refer to social practices as diverse as the possible relationships between the social problem of rationality, case studies of individuals who have run amok, and the functioning of network characteristics. I use contingency to eschew seriality???s deterministic accounting of the social. Here I propose a new conceptual relationship between creativity and action. Emphasis is accordingly placed upon two related normative projects: Raymond Williams???s cultural materialism, and three of the ???problematiques??? Peter Wagner has identified as inescapable for theorizing modernity: the continuity of the acting person, the certainty of knowledge, and the viability of the political order. I conclude with a renewed conception of the role of normative critique as a form of conceptual therapy for bioglobal projections of seriality.

This thesis investigates the cultural and social production of AIDS in popular discourse, particularly film and mass media, and offers a critical consideration of the ways in which the proliferation and dispersion of these discourses function in our current episteme to rearticulate and reinscribe traditional value systems of sexuality, familialism, and nationalism. Taking the lead of the work of Michel Foucault on the body in various historical regimes, the author here will posit a theoretical analysis of the "discursive formation" of AIDS, how the body of AIDS is put into discourse, to provide a matrix for establishing the various disciplinary and regulatory apparatuses structuring the epidemic--that is, the affirmation of certain kinds of pleasures and bodies and the strategic circumvention of other pleasures and bodies. Under what the author refers to as the cultural logic of dis-ease, the investigations that follow will be animated by the central question: Whose pleasure and/or power is served by these representations and discourses of the body of AIDS in popular cultural practices?