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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Social Construction of Social Problems'
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Parham, Antoinette D. "Drought: Construction of a Social Problem." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2016. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc955027/.
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Drought is a complex subject that has varied definitions and perspectives. Although drought has historically been characterized as an environmental problem from both the meteorological and agricultural communities, it is not considered a sociological disaster despite its severe societal impacts. Utilizing the framework developed by Spector and Kitsuse (2011) and Stallings (1995), this research examines the process through which drought is defined as a social problem. An analysis of the data revealed drought was well covered
in Africa, India, China, Australia, and New Zealand, yet very little coverage
focused on the United States. There were less than 10 articles discussing
drought and drought impacts in the United States. The workshops/meetings examined also were lacking in the attention to drought, although their overall theme was focused on hazards and resilience. Six sessions in over 16 years of
meetings/workshops focused on the topic of drought, and one session was focused on the condition in Canada. The interviews uncovered five thematic areas demonstrating drought understanding and awareness: Use of outreach to get the message out; agricultures familiarity with drought; the role of drought in media; the variability of what drought is; and water conservation. Drought's claims-makers who are dedicated to providing outreach and education to impacted communities. Drought is often overlooked due to its slow onset and evolving development makes it difficult to determine when to engage in recovery efforts. Drought defined as a social problem also expands theoretical conversations regarding what events or issues should be included within the sociological disaster list of topics.
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Iturralde, Andrés, and Elias Levir. "Om synen på ”utanförskap” : Socialsekreterare och nämndpolitiker om arbetslösa unga vuxna med försörjningsproblem." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för socialt arbete (SA), 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-24175.
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During the study's first stage we noticed that the Swedish term ” utanförskap” was constructed for political purposes, the term’s ambiguity what was first raised our interest. Therefore the aims of this study was to examine how social workers at the social welfare office and the labor market related project Framtid Kronoberg as well as politicians within the administration of Arbete & Välfärd (Work & Welfare) relates to utanförskap as a social phenomenon. The study’s second aim was to examine how the aforementioned persons consider utanförskap to be counteracted among young adults. The study has shown that the interviewees have different opinions regarding the meaning of utanförskap. Furthermore the study shows that there is a consensus regarding activation as the solution for utanförskap through either employment or by attending labor market related activities. The study has also shown that the activation requirements made by the politicians of the administration, with the purpose of placing young adults on social welfare in labor market activities consists of continuous controls and sanctions when deviation is noted.
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Carlsson, Kim, and Maria Engström. "Socialarbetares syn på datorspelande ungdomar : En intervjustudie om socialarbetares problematisering av ett nytt fenomen." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för socialt arbete, SA, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-23906.
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The purpose of our study is to describe and understand whether, and if so, how social workers in school and in social services construct computer gaming adolescents as a social problem. We chose social workers who encounter adolescents with different problems. We have conducted qualitative interviews with vignettes to capture the social workers' reasoning about computer gaming adolescents and how they handle this in their work. The study shows that all social workers we interviewed had encountered adolescents with troubling computer gaming habits. In the study, all agree that computer gaming becomes a problem when it leads to deviant behaviour such as not going to school, staying up all night and so on. Social workers have adapted their work with computer gaming adolescents after their workplace policies, resources and make efforts to make it manageable to work with. One example of how they make it manageable is that they look at the problem in a context and focus on other factors than the excessive computer gaming such as poor family relationships. In the process of being established as a social problem computer gaming addiction is weak.
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Martin, Amanda Ellaina. "The construction of Operation Iraqi Freedom as a social problem." Morgantown, W. Va. : [West Virginia University Libraries], 2008. https://eidr.wvu.edu/etd/documentdata.eTD?documentid=5632.
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Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2008.<br>Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 78 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-78).
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Kirst, Maritt. "The social construction of 'bad girls' as a social problem: A comparison of the claims-making activity of social problems experts and print journalists." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape15/PQDD_0002/MQ36708.pdf.
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McPhee, Debra M. "The child protection system, organizational responses to child sexual abuse and the social construction of social problems." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape15/PQDD_0004/NQ35247.pdf.
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Viterbo, Hedi. "The legal construction of childhood in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2012. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/592/.
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Knapp, Daniel. "The social construction of computational surveillance : reclaiming agency in a computed world." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2016. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3436/.
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Over the last decades, surveillance has transformed into a pervasive phenomenon woven into the fabric of socio-economic life. In this process, surveillance has itself undergone a structural transformation as its principal agents such as prison guards and CCTV operators have been replaced by algorithms and data-driven technologies. Contemporary surveillance then is embedded in, and expression of, a fundamental remaking of the world, where human decision-making is increasingly supplanted by computational mechanisms, and lived experience is mediated, and even constituted, by computation. This thesis is a sociological work with an emphasis on the role of communication at the intersection of computation and surveillance (‘computational surveillance’). Current debates have predominantly focussed on the systems and mechanisms of computational surveillance. Less emphasis has been placed on the lived experience of inhabiting a computed world, and specifically how people can query and act towards computational surveillance. This thesis makes both a theoretical and empirical contribution to this question. Through a framework rooted in the sociology of knowledge, the thesis develops a theory of agency towards computational surveillance. It outlines the changing conditions under which knowledge of social reality is constructed in a computational world and theorises modes of reclaiming these conditions for human agents. This theory informed, and its further development emerged out of the findings from a qualitative study of 40 young people in Germany and the UK about their everyday encounters with computational surveillance, which was conducted as part of the thesis. It highlights how participants obtain knowledge about invisible computational mechanisms through their everyday activities and documents practices through which they collaboratively frame computers as interlocutors that they act towards. Lastly, this thesis documents the tactics and strategies employed by participants to hide from, or manipulate computational surveillance, and how they adopt a logic akin to computers in this process.
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Liccia, Damien. "Troubles dans le (cyber)espace public : le problème public des fake news comme symptôme de crises systémiques dans la France contemporaine (XVIIIe-XXIe siècles)." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Sorbonne université, 2025. http://www.theses.fr/2025SORUL023.
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Sous les coups de boutoir d'une série de menaces informationnelles, supposées ou réelles (terrorisme, radicalisation, complotisme, désinformation…), les acteurs politiques français en sont venus à voir dans Internet et les réseaux sociaux, non plus des avatars tangibles de ces « autoroutes de l'information » qui devaient rendre les citoyens plus éclairés, mais la source de nombreux maux contemporains menaçant les conditions mêmes d'existence de notre démocratie. La série de termes et de concepts tels que « fake news », « ingérences informationnelles » ou « radicalisation en ligne » nés au milieu des années 2010, n'est que la face émergée terminologique, d'une bascule plus profonde qui a fait voler en éclats le consensus optimiste qui prévalait encore dix ans plus tôt, lors de la popularisation d'internet dans les foyers français. En nous inscrivant dans une lecture paradigmatique de cette chute, nous avons étudié la série d'anomalies qui ont définitivement ébranlé l'acceptabilité du modèle linéaire selon lequel le développement des sources d'information va de pair avec un meilleur système politique. Ces anomalies, que le syntagme de « fake news » permet, en partie, de subsumer, revêtent majoritairement un caractère exogène. Si les politiques publiques ont changé en France, cela est moins la résultante de quelconques mutations internes, qu'en raison des craintes au long cours associées à la propagande étatique ou paraétatique pouvant être exercée sur notre territoire par des acteurs étrangers hostiles, des chaînes satellitaires extra-européennes aux médias d'État et autres campagnes d'ingérence informationnelle. Réduire cela à une simple crise de panique morale épisodique liée à des événements précis ne permet qu'imparfaitement de rendre compte du lien dialectique étroit qui unit ces troubles dans le (cyber)espace public avec une série de crises systémiques, dont la série d'attentats terroristes ayant touché le pays au cours de la décennie 2010 constitue la partie la plus sensible. Originellement, c'est bien parce que l'État a été troublé, qu'il a eu peur et qu'il a assisté à une remise en cause latente de son autorité et de son pouvoir de police sur l'espace public que, sous contrainte, il a constamment cherché à renforcer son arsenal législatif pour faire face à ce qu'il a généralement perçu comme de nouvelles menaces. En recourant à une approche socio-historique, nous avons cherché à comprendre, de la Révolution française à nos débats contemporains sur les réseaux sociaux, à travers l'examen de la presse et des projets de lois sédimentés au long cours, ce que cela nous dit de la perception de l'espace public de la part des autorités publiques. Ces travaux nous permettent de restituer dans une trame historique, épaisse de plus de deux siècles, la tension qui tiraille toujours le législateur entre une vision abstraite et idéale de l'espace public, les craintes associées à la circulation de bruits et de paroles séditieuses et l'ombre portée d'acteurs intérieurs ou extérieurs qui chercheraient à le subvertir. Si les peurs contemporaines sur le sujet sont indéniablement frappées du sceau de la modernité, l'examen de celles qui ont saisi les autorités dans le passé, nous permet de donner du sens à celles-ci, notamment en soulignant la contribution qu'elles apportent à la structuration de l'État et à son affermissement, ainsi que les dérives inhérentes à ce type de processus<br>Under the blows of a series of informational threats, whether perceived or real (terrorism, radicalization, conspiracy theories, disinformation…), French political actors have come to view the Internet and social networks not as tangible avatars of the “information superhighways” that were supposed to make citizens more informed, but as the source of many contemporary ills that threaten the very conditions of our democracy. The series of terms and concepts such as “fake news,” “informational interference,” or “online radicalization,” which emerged in the mid-2010s, is merely the terminological tip of a deeper shift that shattered the optimistic consensus that had prevailed just ten years earlier, when the internet became popularized in French households. In adopting a paradigmatic reading of this downfall, we studied the series of anomalies that definitively shattered the acceptance of the linear model, which posited that the development of information sources goes hand in hand with a better political system. These anomalies, which the term “fake news” partially subsumes, are largely exogenous in nature. If public policies have changed in France, this is less the result of any internal mutations and more due to long-standing fears associated with state or para-state propaganda that could be exercised on our territory by hostile foreign actors, from extra-European satellite channels to state media and other campaigns of informational interference. Reducing this to a simple episodic moral panic linked to specific events fails to fully account for the close dialectical relationship between these disturbances in the (cyber)public space and a series of systemic crises, of which the wave of terrorist attacks that struck the country during the 2010s is the most sensitive part. Originally, it was because the State was troubled, fearful, and witnessed a latent questioning of its authority and policing power over public space that, under pressure, it constantly sought to strengthen its legislative arsenal to face what it generally perceived as new threats. By employing a socio-historical approach, we sought to understand, from the French Revolution to our contemporary debates on social networks, through the examination of the press and long-standing legislative projects, what this reveals about the public authorities' perception of the public space. This work allows us to trace, through a historical framework spanning more than two centuries, the tension that continues to pull lawmakers between an abstract and ideal vision of the public space, the fears associated with the circulation of rumors and seditious speech, and the looming presence of internal or external actors seeking to disrupt it. While contemporary fears on this subject are undeniably marked by modernity, examining those that gripped authorities in the past allows us to make sense of them, particularly by highlighting their contribution to the structuring and strengthening of the State, as well as the inherent abuses that accompany such processes
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Seruwagi, Gloria K. "Examining the agency and construction of 'Orphans and Vulnerable Children' in rural Uganda." Thesis, University of Huddersfield, 2012. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/17506/.
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The increasing number of “orphans and vulnerable children” (‘OVC’) in sub-Saharan Africa has been the subject of much inquiry and intervention in research, policy and practice. Two major concerns have been highlighted: i) traditional mechanisms for their care and support are overstretched and ii) ‘OVC’ have poor socioeconomic outcomes. Dominant discourses emphasise adults’ central role in ‘OVC’ wellbeing while ‘OVC’ are cast as helpless, passive victims and not active social agents who demonstrate resilience and ingenuity in dealing with difficult circumstances. Focussing on Sheema district in rural Uganda, this study sought to give voice to ‘OVC’ and use their lived experiences to develop a robust framework of care and support. ‘OVC’ were engaged as producers of knowledge and agents of change using innovative child-centred approaches to explore representations of their care and support through verbal and visual representation of their lived realities. This methodology enabled the development of narratives and critical dialogue about social issues with grassroots social activism. For example participatory methods such as draw-and-write, community mapping and daily-routine-diagrams located the conceptual tools and analytic skills in the hands of ‘OVC’. This study found that the majority of existing ‘OVC’ representations are adult constructs not necessarily subscribed to by ‘OVC’ themselves. Acknowledging their difficult circumstances, most ‘OVC’ have devised solutions to their challenges and are optimistic despite being constrained by structural and cultural barriers. Traditional care mechanisms have evolved and require strengthening, particularly at community level. The lens through which most interventions have been commissioned, implemented and evaluated is paternalistic and does not acknowledge ‘OVC’ competencies. ‘OVC’ voices and lived experiences should inform interventions; also they should be constructed in a more balanced light – showing their challenges while acknowledging their agency in dealing with these challenges. This study proposes a more nuanced label for ‘OVC’ and also develops a robust theoretical framework for their care and support.
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Fincham, Kathleen. "Learning Palestine : the construction of Palestinian identities in south Lebanon." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2010. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/2483/.
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This thesis explores how Palestinian youth in Lebanon construct their identities in the context of statelessness. Specifically, the study examines how Palestinian youth in south Lebanese refugee camps and gatherings understand and perform their identities vis-à-vis nationality, gender and religion; how the discursive resources of identity are appropriated and articulated in everyday life within the camps and how Palestinian identities in Lebanon have shifted across exilic generations, all in the absence of formal state structures. Acknowledging that Palestinian young men and women are meaningful actors in their own right, I have engaged in interpretivist inquiry and sought to capture and reconstruct the subjective meanings placed on social life by Palestinian youth in Lebanon through a case study. Given this methodological perspective, I have used semi-structured interviews, focus groups and Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) approaches as research methods within this study. In light of the vulnerability of Palestinians as a refugee population situated within the larger context of Western imperialism and colonialism in the Middle East, I have drawn on post-structuralist, post-colonialist and feminist theoretical frameworks to interrogate the data. The findings of this study show that Palestinian youth in Lebanon construct their identities through nationalist discourses of shared history, kinship, culture and religion. This is accomplished over time through the production and reproduction of symbolic systems in and through the institutional sites of the school, the family, political organizations, the media and religious institutions. Through these processes, Palestine is constructed as different from 'Other' nations and 'Palestinian-ness' as distinct from 'Other' national identity positions. However, the processes of national signification described above produce identities that are in a constant state of flux and transformation across time and space. Moreover, internal contestations are produced, particularly in relation to religion, gender and generation, which trouble and problematize the notion of a singular and homogenous Palestinian identity. The case study research presented in this thesis explores how Palestinian young people come to understand themselves and learn to navigate their lives both in relation to and in distinction from external 'Others' and dominant 'imaginings' of 'Palestinian-ness'.
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Askew, Susan. "What's the problem? : an investigation into the social construction of 'problems' through the case of boys and their education." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2006. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10006672/.
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Ivanova, Katya. "The life of norms : a critical assessment of the construction and diffusion of the race anti-discrimination norm." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2016. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3390/.
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This thesis examines the genesis and evolution of the anti-discrimination norm directed at race and ethnicity. The thesis seeks to answer: how is the antidiscrimination norm linked to race and ethnicity produced and diffused transnationally and how is it internalised in domestic institutions and government practices? The inquiry mainly assesses the constructivist model of the norm life cycle proposed by Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink. The model presents the development of international norms as a process that consists of three stages: emergence, cascading and domestic internalisation driven by three different sets of actors who employ different mechanisms to bring about normative change. The thesis investigates and ultimately challenges certain assumptions of the proposed model by examining the factors that account for the construction and domestic institutionalisation of the racial anti-discrimination norm in five contexts – the USA (First and Second Reconstruction periods, 1865-1877 and 1954-1975), the UK (1960s-1970s), the EU (1990s-2000s), the Czech Republic (1990s- present) and Hungary (1990s-present). It uses process tracing to re-consider and problematise the model’s claims about the primary agents that drive the production and the institutionalisation of the anti-discrimination norm in each of the five cases, their motives and the mechanisms they employ to facilitate normative change. The thesis disputes several of the main assumptions of Finnemore and Sikkink’s model. The findings demonstrate that national political elites are a key factor that determines the progress of the racial anti-discrimination norm in each stage of the norm life cycle model. They also problematise the ideational basis for the motives of norm entrepreneurs, which, in fact, consist of a complex mixture of ideational and instrumental considerations. The thesis further develops the stages of the norm life cycle model. It challenges the overall design of the model and its assumed linear progression of norm evolution.
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Nash, D. "The construction of the decline of children's outdoor play as a social problem in the UK." Thesis, Canterbury Christ Church University, 2018. http://create.canterbury.ac.uk/17977/.
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The past three decades have seen a substantial growth of interest in children's play in scholarly and popular writing, the mass media and government policymaking. Implicit and explicit in this growing interest is the idea that children's play, or more specifically, a decline or lack of children's outdoor play, represents a serious problem in the UK and other western societies and that it therefore requires the intervention of a range of professional and political powers. The rapid and widespread affirmation that claims about children's play have received deserves critical examination. This study examines the construction of children's play as a social problem in four major UK newspapers. Focusing on the period from 1985 to 2016, it draws on theoretical and conceptual tools from the constructionist study of social problems and methodological tools from Qualitative Media Analysis to examine the roles played by various claimsmakers in the construction of the problem and the rhetoric used in support of their cause. It hence offers important insights into the prominent position children's play holds on the public agenda and identifies some of the underlying cultural currents from which claims about children's play draw.
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Bristow, Jennie. "The construction of the Baby Boomer generation as a social problem in Britain." Thesis, University of Kent, 2015. https://kar.kent.ac.uk/47655/.
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The research presented in this thesis investigates how the ‘Baby Boomer generation’ has become constructed as a social problem in Britain. I begin by outlining the theoretical orientation of the research, which is grounded in Mannheim’s understanding that the problem of generations is to do with the interaction between generational location and wider social forces. The subsequent chapters present the results of a qualitative media analysis of the Baby Boomer problem, using a sample of British national newspaper articles published between 1986 and 2011 to examine the development of a cultural script. These chapters outline, first, the main features of the Baby Boomer problem as it is currently presented, before moving on to analyse how the cultural script has, over time, constructed the Boomer generation in two main ways: as an economic problem, and as a cultural problem. My findings indicate that both the attributes of the Baby Boomer generation, and the importance attached to generation as a political or social category, have changed over time, and are affected by wider political, social, and cultural shifts. This has a number of implications for how we think about the construction of the problem of generations in the present day.
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Jantzer, Amanda Macht. "MULTICULTURAL GROUP MEMBERSHIPS AND EXPERIENCES OF BULLYING: A QUALITATIVE INVESTIGATION OF COLL." OpenSIUC, 2009. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/89.
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The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to examine retrospective experiences of bullying among a diverse sample of ethnic minority and lesbian, gay, and bisexual college students. This study examined the language that college students used to describe forms of peer aggression that they may have experienced or observed during their elementary, middle school, or high school years. The ways in which they made meaning of their experiences of peer aggression and interpreted effects of such experiences were assessed. The specific meanings that participants attached to the term `bullying' were also explored. This study attended to the influence of multicultural group memberships on language usage and meaning-making of peer aggression. Finally, this inquiry included an exploration of the impact of stigma upon assuming or avoiding personal identification as a victim of peer aggression. This qualitative investigation employed individual interviewing with college students in order to explore the primary research questions and utilized constructivist grounded theory methods and analysis. According to the results, issues of cultural identity and cultural context emerged as strong themes in this investigation. Peer aggression experienced by culturally diverse individuals often involved identity-specific peer interactions which occurred within or emerged out of cultural context. The implications of these results are that attending to culture and context may be crucial to gaining an understanding of the social worlds of minority-identified people and to developing more culturally relevant research and practice. The findings also support calls for continued research on the role of culture in the nature of and meanings associated with bullying. Moreover, the results indicated that the participants tended to minimize experiences and outcomes of bullying and to distance themselves from stigmatized victim identities. These factors may undermine constructions of bullying as a social problem and thus warrant further attention by claims-makers interested in drawing attention to this issue.
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Hunter, Jennifer. "The social construction of an environmental problem : 'Waldsterben' in Germany." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.313586.
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Canham, Linda. "The social construction of a social problem, a content analysis of sex offending in Newsweek magazine." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape10/PQDD_0004/MQ41379.pdf.
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Maratea, Ray. "Virtual claimsmaking the role of the Internet in constructing social problems /." Access to citation, abstract and download form provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company; downloadable PDF file, 316 p, 2009. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1891601531&sid=4&Fmt=2&clientId=8331&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Frizzell, Angela. "Biting the hand that feeds?, the social construction of adolescent violence toward parents as a social problem." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape15/PQDD_0024/MQ38375.pdf.
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O'Brien, Haillie. "The Social Construction of Addiction and Sexual Deviancy: A Comparative Analysis of the Experts in Policy Debate." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/35852.
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Sexual deviancy and addiction are two concepts that have undergone considerable development in the way in which they are constructed. Since the 1800s both concepts have come to the attention of the medical field, psychological field and the criminal justice system which have made numerous attempts to regulate and treat them within these realms. By using the lens of social construction and Spector and Kitsuse’s theory of social problems, this project explores how experts describe sexual deviancy and addiction. Important considerations involving the significance of victims and a victim status emerge from the analysis, as the differentiating factors between demands for treatment for addiction, while sexual deviancy experiences an increasingly punitive regime.
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Ramey, David M. "The Social Control of Childhood Behavior via Criminalization or Medicalization: WhyRace Matters." The Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1402929918.
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Calcraft, Rebecca. "Children left at home alone : the construction of a social problem." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2004. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10063/.
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The question of when a child is old enough to be left at home alone, and under what circumstances, is a dilemma faced by many parents and professionals. Adopting a social constructionist perspective of social problems, this thesis explores professional perceptions and policy responses to the issue of children left at home alone since the passing of the Children Act in 1989. The law in England and Wales does not specify an age at which it is deemed safe to leave a child unsupervised at home, a practice sometimes referred to as 'self-care'. Professionals respond to the issue through non-legalistic, more persuasive interventions. The media also plays a role in regulating parenting practices, as demonstrated in the early 1990s, when the British press covered a number of stories involving parents who left their children at 'home alone'. The issue continues to bubble up from time to time, but calls for more specific law to manage the problem have gone unheeded. Drawing on interviews with child welfare professionals and campaigners who work at national level, and on an analysis of policy, campaigning and educational documents, I explore how the issue is constructed, responded to and resisted as a social problem. I conclude that this is an example of an 'unconstructed' social problem because, despite continued public and professional concern, there has been no clear legislative response. Understanding how and why some social problems 'fail' is a key contribution to the literature on the social construction of social problems, which has focused mainly on 'successful' social problems to date.
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Vondal, Jennafer. "Chasing the Dragon: The Social Construction of the U.S. Opioid Epidemic." Diss., North Dakota State University, 2019. https://hdl.handle.net/10365/29548.
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Utilizing a social construction perspective, this study uses a mixed method approach to examine the opioid epidemic. The study begins by identifying the numerous claims-making groups along with conducting a content analysis of the rhetoric and symbols used to legitimize the claims about the opioid epidemic. The data for the content analysis was obtained through a search of the websites, newsrooms, and pressrooms of claims-making groups. Additionally, the study examines and assesses the volume of money that is generated and allocated towards opioid research and prevention in an effort to determine who has more power to influence the policy initiatives. Findings show that the frequency of rhetoric and the number of claims-making groups releasing information about the opioid epidemic increased from 2010-2016. Most of the rhetoric consists of groups proposing resolution strategies and formulating new policies. Only a few claims-makers are making financial contributions towards opioid prevention initiatives and in most cases, it is a very small amount of money.
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Stewart, Breanna C. "The Social Construction of the Prescription Drug Use Problem Among America's Youth." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1376739466.
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Katzarova, Elitza. "The World Is Broken: The Social Construction of a Global Corruption Problem." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Trento, 2015. https://hdl.handle.net/11572/367983.
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This thesis examines the social construction of a global corruption problem by introducing a methodological framework from the field of sociology and adapting it to International Relations (IR). It provides an alternative explanation for the adoption of anti-corruption instruments in the period 1994-1997 and the international institutionalization of anti-corruption reforms. It challenges conventional views that point to the rise of non-state actors, such as Transparency International, and the end of the Cold War. By tracing the trajectory of the corruption problem, it shows that the dynamics of the 1990s can only be fully understood within the legacy of the 1970s and, in particular, the failed talks at the United Nations. The institutionalization of the global corruption problem in the 1990s was a product largely of historical contingency and state intentionality. While it appeared that a new issue has taken international organizations by storm, it was largely key state agents that were creating this change by building coalitions and maneuvering between venues. The thesis employs methods of discourse and practice analysis from sociological research for the empirical study of claims. The analysis makes use of archival data to open up the pre-negotiation talks on illicit/corrupt payments at the OECD and the UN and study the process of claims-making, as well as document discursive strategies such as controversy management and feasibility. By taking a step back from the study of norms to look at the social construction of problems, the thesis introduces new methodological tools into constructivist IR. It also provides for the integration of state agency in constructivist approaches by showing how state actors engage in ontological warfare over the definition and institutionalization of new problems. Studying the social construction of problems through the process of claims-making elucidates the power relations that inform the established definitions and the spectrum of legitimate solutions; it helps us better understand the makings of international reality.
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Katzarova, Elitza. "The World Is Broken: The Social Construction of a Global Corruption Problem." Doctoral thesis, University of Trento, 2015. http://eprints-phd.biblio.unitn.it/1526/1/Thesis_Katzarova.pdf.
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This thesis examines the social construction of a global corruption problem by introducing a methodological framework from the field of sociology and adapting it to International Relations (IR). It provides an alternative explanation for the adoption of anti-corruption instruments in the period 1994-1997 and the international institutionalization of anti-corruption reforms. It challenges conventional views that point to the rise of non-state actors, such as Transparency International, and the end of the Cold War. By tracing the trajectory of the corruption problem, it shows that the dynamics of the 1990s can only be fully understood within the legacy of the 1970s and, in particular, the failed talks at the United Nations. The institutionalization of the global corruption problem in the 1990s was a product largely of historical contingency and state intentionality. While it appeared that a new issue has taken international organizations by storm, it was largely key state agents that were creating this change by building coalitions and maneuvering between venues. The thesis employs methods of discourse and practice analysis from sociological research for the empirical study of claims. The analysis makes use of archival data to open up the pre-negotiation talks on illicit/corrupt payments at the OECD and the UN and study the process of claims-making, as well as document discursive strategies such as controversy management and feasibility. By taking a step back from the study of norms to look at the social construction of problems, the thesis introduces new methodological tools into constructivist IR. It also provides for the integration of state agency in constructivist approaches by showing how state actors engage in ontological warfare over the definition and institutionalization of new problems. Studying the social construction of problems through the process of claims-making elucidates the power relations that inform the established definitions and the spectrum of legitimate solutions; it helps us better understand the makings of international reality.
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McConnell, Keiron. "The construction of the gang in British Columbia : Mafioso, gangster, or thug? : an examination of the uniqueness of the BC gangster phenomenon." Thesis, London Metropolitan University, 2015. http://repository.londonmet.ac.uk/1177/.
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This thesis explores the structure, demographics, and history of gangs in British Columbia (BC), Canada, through a social constructionist lens. The purpose of this research is for the reader to consider the current state of gangs in BC as inherently different from other places in the world, to assist in understanding why there may be misconceptions, and to promote the research and implementation of more appropriate context-specific interventions. Building on previous work conducted as a Vancouver Police officer of over 27 years, I participated in field observations with gang units in Toronto and Hobbema, Canada; Chicago and Los Angeles, USA; and London, England. I also examined gang typologies and definitions in academic literature as a segment of the historical context of gang research and highlight how these bodies of literature contribute to the social construction of gangs. A historical review of media-reported gang violence in BC from 1903 to 2012 demonstrates that gang violence is not a new phenomenon, and its history is an essential element in the constructed concept of the gang. As well, I conducted semi-structured interviews with participants who either police gangs, work with gangs, or were former gang members to get their perspectives on the issue. The research findings highlight that gangs in BC are distinct from other locations. Whereas traditional at-risk youth dominate gangs elsewhere, BC has a large number of youth involved in gangs who do not appear to possess the typical antecedents to gang involvement. Because of these differences, it is crucial that anti-gang initiatives and policies be adapted to the BC context to effectively reduce gang activity and ultimately eliminate gangs.
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Jovchelovitch, Sandra. "Social representations and public life : a study on the symbolic construction of public spaces in Brazil." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 1995. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/119/.
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In this thesis I relate the work of both Arendt and Habermas concerning the public sphere to Moscovici's theory of social representations. I propose a distinction between social representations in and of the public sphere to show that (i) social representations are forms of symbolic mediation firmly grounded in the public sphere, and (ii) public life plays a constituent role in the development of representations and symbols. Drawing on Winnicott's concept of potential space, I show that the constitution of social representations and public life rests neither upon the individual nor upon society, but upon those spaces of mediation that link and separate them at the same time. The concept of public sphere is operationalised along two dimensions: the space of the streets and the arena of politics. The research comprises three empirical studies: (i) content analyses of the Brazilian press, (ii) focus groups with street children, taxi drivers, policemen, professionals, students and manual workers, and (iii) narrative interviews with Brazilian parliamentarians about the impeachment of the former president. The roles of the media, of conversation and of narratives in the shaping of both social representations and public life guide the analyses. The findings suggest that the blurred character of the relationship between self and other in Brazil lies at the very heart of social representations of public life. Threat and fear on the streets and corruption in political life are anchored in older metaphors of corrupt blood and a contaminated, ill, social body. The results suggest that the workings of social representations are inseparable both from the historical features of the society in which they develop and from the processes whereby a community struggles to maintain an identity, a sense of belonging and a location in the world.
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Dubé, Stéphanie. "Pédophilie dans la presse écrite québécoise : la construction d'un problème social récurrent." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/41554.
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En 2019, les «affaires pédophiles» font encore régulièrement manchette dans les journaux québécois. Notre thèse propose donc une analyse actuelle du discours de la presse écrite sur la question de la pédophilie et du pédophile, et ce, à travers trois grands quotidiens : Le Soleil, La Presse et Le Devoir. Contrairement à ce que prétend la littérature scientifique, la pédophilie n’est plus simplement abordée tel un crime immonde à réprouver. Elle est aussi associée à un tabou social pouvant nuire à la liberté d’expression artistique. Ceci dit, ce phénomène renvoie encore et toujours à un problème très grave sur lequel le citoyen se doit absolument d’intervenir. En effet, la manière dont les journaux traitent la pédophilie laisse croire que les pédophiles ont désormais infiltré nos organes de contrôle social. Cette perte de confiance à l’endroit des autorités officielles se traduit notamment par une mise en avant de l’action citoyenne dans la « lutte aux pédophiles » ou autrement dit, par la promotion de parents justiciers et de victimes héroïques s’étant eux-mêmes faits justice. À cet égard, la représentation de certains acteurs sociaux nous renseigne sur ce qui est jugé désirable et sur les interventions appropriées en matière de pédophilie. Les pédophiles ne sont plus considérés par la presse comme étant les seuls coupables de ce problème social. Tous ceux et celles qui n’interviennent pas suffisamment le sont tout autant, donnant lieu au phénomène des mères complices et des autorités (sociales et parentales) incapables. Enfin, et à l’instar des études récentes sur les médias, on note une grande part de subjectivité journalistique dans nos articles. Effectivement, les auteurs n’hésitent pas à partager leurs opinions et leurs états d’âme en ce qui concerne l’univers de la pédophilie, favorisant du même coup ce que Taguieff (2006) appelle des logiques conspirationnistes.
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Gao, Ming. "Pro-forma consistency : the construction of the relationship between China's social organizations and the state in the 21st century." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2012. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/3820/.
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The purpose of this thesis is to understand the changing nature of contemporary China's state and society relationship by focusing on the construction of the relationship between newly emerging non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the state. The term "construction" refers to the process in which China NGOs emerge, struggle for existence, negotiate with state organizations and other social agents. In this process, how China's NGOs link with the state policies of both local and national levels, practices of both local government officers and the government organizations of superior branches is of the most interest. It has been found that Chinese social organizations often come to be congruent with the state at both local level and national policy level. Through the articulatory elements, which are the theoretical tools borrowed from post-Marxist theories, the state and the social organizations are integrated as if they are in a coherent whole under the macro state policies. Such pro forma consistency between state and social organizations provides legitimacy and room for social organizations to develop their own values and practices, which actually do not completely coincide with the state dominant orientations. A civil society constituted by social organizations with different value pursuits is likely emerging in China.
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Frawley, Ashley. "'Unhappy news': the construction of happiness as a social problem in UK newspapers." Thesis, University of Kent, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.594107.
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Interest in happiness has seen an unprecedented growth in both popular and scholarly writing, in the mass media, and has been institutionalised into the policy and practice of a wide array of institutions. Both implicit and explicit in this rising interest is the notion that happiness re presents a serious problem requiring the intervention of a range of professional and political powers. The rapid and widespread affirmation that claims about happiness have received warrants critical examination. This study examines the construction of happiness as a socia l problem in four major UK newspapers, from the perfunctory evocations of the past to the present-day project of redefining the id iom as the legitimate domain ,of expertise and campaigns to bring it to the forefront of public debate. With theo retica l too ls drawn from the constructionist study of social problems and methodological tools garnered from qualitative media analysis, it examines the roles played by various claimsmakers in the construction of the problem and the rhetoric mobilised in support of their cause. It offers important insights into the ascendance of happiness onto the public agenda and identifies some of the underlying cultural currents on which claims about happiness draw and which make it a particularly powerful idiom th rough which to conceptualise contemporary social problems.
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Luff, Tracy L. "The construction of social problems and the experience of human service programs: contradictory relations in a support group for adolescent mothers." Diss., Virginia Tech, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40469.
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The patterned interactions in a support group for adolescent mothers are analyzed in the context of the specific construction(s) of adolescent pregnancy and motherhood that legitimate the program's existence. Particular attention is paid to the way in which staff and clients are positioned vis a vis one another through the typification of the program's mission and goals. Data analyzed include field notes recorded during ten months of participant observation with the group, program documents describing the history, mission, and goals of the program, and an in-depth interview with the Program Director. Changes in funding patterns led to an increased emphasis on the prevention of child abuse as a goal of the program. The resulting expectations of program staff and assumptions about adolescent mothers cast these two groups of women into social identities containing inherent contradictions. Differences of social class further complicate the relationship between the groups. Varying strategies of self-presentation are employed by clients and staff as they struggle with these contradictions. The young mothers present themselves in ways that maintain distance between themselves and staff. While the staff are never completely successful and breaking down the barriers between themselves and the young mothers, one style of self-presentation has the potential to bridge the gap. The findings have practical implications for the design and implementation of human service programs, particularly those which address stigmatized categories of women. The findings also have theoretical implications relevant to ongoing discussions of feminist epistemology, and the intersection of gender and social class.<br>Ph. D.
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Millman, Margaret. "In the shadow of war : continuities and discontinuities in the construction of the masculine identities of British soldiers, 1914-1924." Thesis, University of Greenwich, 2002. http://gala.gre.ac.uk/6252/.
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The upheavals of the cataclysm of the First World War reverberated through every comer of British society, how society was reconstructed afterwards is the subject of enormous critical debate. This study examines how masculinities were disrupted and. reconstructed during and after the war. It is a study of British men, previously civilians, who became servicemen in the First World War. It aims to map the continuities and discontinuities in the construction of their masculine identities during war and in its aftermath in the 1920s. Pioneered by feminist scholars concerned with analysing the historical construction of femininity, the study of gender relations has become a significant area of historical enquiry. This has resulted in a substantial body of historical scholarship on the history of masculinities and the increasing visibility of men as gendered subjects whose masculinities are lived and imagined. This thesis is informed by, and engages with, the histories of masculinities. It also draws on recent historical research on the cultural legacy of the war. The first chapter explores the subjectiver esponsesto becoming a soldier through an examination of personal memoirs; largely unpublished sources drawn from memories and written or recorded by men as narratives of their wartime experiences. The subject of the second chapter is shell shock. The outbreak of shell shock among the troops aroused anxieties about masculinity. The competing versions of masculinities which emerged in military and medical discourses is examined. Returning to individual memoirs, the chapter examines how men produced their own representations of the shell shocked man contesting other versions. Chapters 3 and 4 focus their attention on the relatively neglected subject of ex-servicemen's organisations and the collectivities of ex-servicemen. During and after the war a movement of ex-servicemen emerged to campaign for justice and fair treatment. Comradeship underpinned the attempt to forge an ex-serviceman identity and an examination of veterans' publications, a largely neglected source, has revealed the tensions and conflicts which contested this form of masculine identity. Masculine identities, as citizens and workers, presented a challenge to the potential for a unified, apolitical movement. Unemployment was a challenge to male identities traditionally secured through work and masculine codes of independence. Unlike many studies, this thesis intentionally straddles war and peace. It begins in 1914 and ends a decade later in a society restored to peace but still essentially in the shadow of war.
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Luebbe, Aaron M. "Specificity of anxiety and depression in social problem-solving response construction and selection in children /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 2003. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p1418047.
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Blomqvist, Joakim. "War on 'the poor' : The Construction of Begging as a Social Problem within Swedish Policy." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för samhälls- och välfärdsstudier, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-159669.
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In recent years EU-citizens living in poverty exercising their right to free movement within EU have gained increased political interest. Some vulnerable EU citizens travel to Sweden in order seek livelihood, some of them engage in begging. The presence of vulnerable EU citizens engaged in begging has generated the emergence of a new policy area with increased political activity at both national and municipal level. Here, a state public report, policy proposals and problematization of the issue at municipal level are analysed. The analysis reveal how begging is constructed as a social problem and how the vulnerable EU citizen is positioned. The political discourse in this policy area is characterized by securitization and individualisation of responsibility, begging is problematized based on notions of welfare nationalism. People who beg are positioned as undeserving and associated with criminality, with few exceptions, the social rights approach is silenced. Begging is mainly constructed as an individual problem and linked to personal deficiencies. Thus, the structural issues such as inequality, discrimination and poverty are also subordinated in the political discourse. Further, the analysis exposes that human rights issues are not taken into account when policies targeting begging are formulated.
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Thomas, Gareth. "Constructing the hydrogen fuel cell community : a case study of networked innovation governance." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2016. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/6630/.
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This thesis presents the findings of an actor-centred constructivist case study into the policy community emerging around Hydrogen and Fuel Cell innovation. Emerging at the intersection between increasingly networked energy; climate and industrial policy, innovation has been the focal point of literatures advocating transitions towards more sustainable socio-technical systems. The thesis develops an interpretivist-constructivist methodology to sketch how actor interpretations of competency and context inform the interests and strategies in innovation policy processes. Drawing on interviews and extensive documentary research it argues that while innovation governance is, in part, a product of networked interactions between HFC community members, these interactions are circumscribed by prevailing policy paradigms. Expressed via a commercial logic and empowered by the resources of large industrial firms, such paradigms de-politicise governance practices and align innovation priorities around those compatible with the interests of large industrial interests. The thesis contributes to our understanding of interpretation as the means by which ideas and resources shape strategic interaction, and serves to remind us that networked governance can close down as well as open up spaces of participation in policy processes.
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Deuffic, Philippe. "Produire et discuter des normes environnementales : écologues et forestiers face à la biodiversité associée au bois mort." Phd thesis, Bordeaux 2, 2012. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00842846.
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Depuis plus de 40 ans, les mobilisations autour d'enjeux environnementaux interrogent les relations que l'homme entretient avec la nature. Mais toutes les questions d'environnement ne retiennent pas l'attention des pouvoirs publics et du public. Fondée sur une approche constructiviste de sociologie des problèmes publics et de sociologie cognitive, la thèse permet de comprendre, à partir de l'exemple de la conservation des bois morts, comment cette question a été instituée en problème public - sous l'impulsion de scientifiques et de responsables d'associations environnementales - et inscrite à l'agenda des politiques environnementales. Si la dimension sectorielle de ce type de problème a rendu difficile sa médiatisation, la thèse montre aussi qu'il a bénéficié de l'alignement du cadre interprétatif sur des catégories de problèmes publics déjà identifiés comme celui de la biodiversité. La thèse interroge également la production normative inhérente à la publicisation de cette question ainsi que les conditions d'élaboration de solutions. Si la production de normes censées résoudre ces problèmes est de plus en plus décentralisée et négociée, ce travail de normalisation montre ses limites en termes d'asymétrie de pouvoir, de légitimité sociale accordée aux différents acteurs de la négociation et de l'hétérogénéité des référentiels qui reposent parfois sur des compromis minimalistes et fonctionnels. Malgré cette absence de cadres interprétatifs et de référentiels normatifs stabilisés, les forestiers de terrain, enquêtés dans les Landes de Gascogne et la forêt de Rambouillet, se montrent de plus en plus réceptifs à la question de la biodiversité associée aux bois morts mais aussi à l'utilisation de cette biomasse comme source d'énergie renouvelable. Notre approche de sociologie cognitive, et en particulier de la pensée technique, montre que cette mise en concurrence et ce recadrage autour de problèmes publics environnementaux présentés comme d'égale importance interrogent à nouveau les forestiers sur leur façon de concilier éthique environnementale et économie dans le cadre de leur gestion forestière.
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Hernandez, Alexander A. "“According to Wikipedia…”: A Comparative Analysis of the Establishment and Display of Authority in a Social Problems Textbook and Wikipedia." Scholar Commons, 2009. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/2009.
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In this study, I aim to examine (1) how authority is established and (2) how it is displayed. Through the use of content analysis, I investigate how the topics of "gender" and "race" within a contemporary social problems textbook compares and contrasts to corresponding Wikipedia articles. Through my research I wish to shed light on the social construction of knowledge within our modern society while also shedding light on the role that authority plays within knowledge. In order to examine how authority is established I examined the number of citations found in each topic, the publishing date of each reference and the location from which a citation emanated from. I found that authority is established differently between the two sources as each medium differed considerably in the number of citations presented, the average publishing date and the medium from which their resources were taken. To examine how authority is displayed I investigated the topics selected for both gender and race as well as the amount of space devoted to each topic. While there were similarities in regards to topic selection between the textbook Wikipedia I also found a number of topics present within the Wikipedia articles that were not addressed at all within the textbook. I found that the disparities between the textbook and Wikipedia simply illustrated a difference in perspective between the two mediums. The textbook featured a large number of citations predominantly from peer-reviewed, social scientific sources as is common within the academic world while Wikipedia featured a large number of citations that drew from a wide range of locations. This distinction highlights the idea that while knowledge may be viewed by the general public as objective and unchanging there are in fact significant differences in how knowledge is presented and legitimated depending on its originating source.
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Jeffery, Heather Elizabeth. "The construction of homelessness as a social problem, linking contributing factors, mediating factors and interventive strategies." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp01/MQ40338.pdf.
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Wainwright, Alexandra Lilian. "The Social Construction of Civil Asset Forfeiture as a Social Problem in the UnitedStates: A Sociological Analysis of Legislation and Cultural Commentary SurroundingCivil Asset Forfeiture Throughout United States History." Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1587658240812723.
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Kattami, Christalena. "Development of a construction methodology of goal directed, optimal complexity, flexible and task oriented (GOFT) training materials for novice computer users : application and evaluation in adults with mental health problems." Thesis, City University London, 1996. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/7779/.
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A number of information technology schemes have been developed in order to provide people with mental health problems the opportunity to acquire skills in micro-computer technology. Even though positive results have been reported a high incidence of dropouts during the beginning of the training have been found. The research is based on the assumption that in order for a computer training method to be effective in fostering computer skills and confidence to adult novice users with mental health problems has to: (a) bridge the gap between the user's capacities, needs, and preferences and the demands of the computer interfaces and their real task applications; (b) consider the ways adult novice users prefer to learn and the skill acquisition theories; (c) facilitate a goal directed interaction with the computer system; (d) maintain an optimal complexity level across training; and (e) allow flexibility of use. Based on the relevant literature, a methodology model and a set of design propositions and construction guidelines have been derived and have been implemented for the development of Goaldirected, optimal complexity, Flexible & Task oriented (GOFT) training materials for adult, novice users with mental health problems. The GOFT training materials were based on three different models, the one for the creation of a goal directed instruction format and the other two for the organisation of the training, and the estimation of the difficulty level of each new computer operation or real task application. Evaluation of use of the GOFT Training Materials by 34 adult, novice users (aged 18-51) with mental health problems revealed positive results. More specifically, the use of the GOFT training materials as compared to traditional methods resulted in a significant increase in the number of participants at the different training stages (85.3% versus 47.2%; and 44.5% versus 22.2% at three and twelve months respectively), in perfect & regular attendance rate ( 44,12% versus 11.11% & 32.35% versus 16.67%) and in the performance level (means of 3.75 versus 2.67) of the users. The subjective evaluation by the users also revealed significant differences between the GOFT and traditional training materials. In their evaluation the GOFT materials were rated significantly higher in terms of systematic arrangement, personal affect, understandability, task relevance, fitness, sense of control, confidence in using the mastered functions and in supporting goal directed learning approach.
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Mulliner, Emma Kate. "A model for the complex assessment of sustainable housing affordability." Thesis, Liverpool John Moores University, 2012. http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/6183/.
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This study investigates the concept and assessment of housing affordability. Housing affordability is a multi-dimensional issue, yet it is typically assessed quite simply in terms of the financial burden of housing costs. The study frames the housing affordability problem as encompassing more than financial costs of housing and household ability to meet these costs, and extends to larger issues of social wellbeing and community sustainability. This thesis provides an original contribution to new knowledge by developing and applying a complex model for the assessment of sustainable housing affordability. The model is holistic and is capable of considering a broad spectrum of criteria determining housing affordability and the wellbeing of households, including economic, environmental and social aspects. Multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques are innovatively applied for the analysis of sustainable housing affordability. The chosen methodology of MCDM allows a multidimensional analysis of both quantitative and qualitative criteria Influencing the affordability of housing and household wellbeing. The thesis presents the results of a case study assessment of 10 areas in Liverpool, UK as a practical example of the sustainable housing affordability assessment model. This allows the given areas to be ranked in respect of their sustainable housing affordability. The model can assist stakeholders, such as central governments, local authorities, developers and consumers, on both a national and international scale, in making comprehensive and informed decisions concerning affordability. The model provides a complex analysis of the criteria that influence the affordability of housing, beyond the financial implications experienced by households and better reflecting household wellbeing and sustain ability concerns. The tool could be utilised as a potential planning indicator for shaping local housing markets. The rankings derived from the model may be used as a locational decision aid and to support new housing development that will meet the needs of low and moderate income residents in ways that go beyond traditional notions of financial burden.
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Riley, Marie. "Girls of the period : women critics and constructions of the feminine in the mid-Victorian novel." Thesis, University of Central Lancashire, 2002. http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/1705/.
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This thesis addresses women's agency in the mediation and reception of mid nineteenth-century fiction from the end of the 1840s until the beginning of the 1870s. It demonstrates how women participated in shaping an ideology of the feminine by utilising the platform of periodical reviewing to monitor constructions of womanhood in the novels of women writers. The notion of a feminine critical discourse about gender is a familiar one. There has been academic interest in the reactions of reviewers such as Margaret Oliphant and Geraldine Jewsbury to images of the feminine in sensation novels, but no study exists that brings together a body of women's criticism of this period, or examines the critical responses of women to a much wider spectrum of female representation, for example, in the field of domestic or religious fiction. This thesis explores the critical reaction, not simply to the transgressive or improper feminine, but to idealised images of the domestic angel. It points to a reshaping of the idea of the heroic which allowed women to take centre stage in fiction, and goes on to explore several constructions of the feminine that became a locus of concern for women commentators: the martyr to selfsacrifice; the injured wife; the governess; the religious heroine; the transgressor of sensation novels, and the assertive "Girl of the Period" in her various phases. Interrogating those texts and themes that preoccupied nineteenth-century women critics, the thesis retrieves a lost context to women's writing of the period and argues that the discourses surrounding forgotten novels by writers such as Harriet Parr and Charlotte Riddell provided a forum which allowed representations of gender to be contested, re-negotiated and re-defined. Bringing to light new critical material by reviewers such as Eleanor Eden and Jane Williams, the thesis examines many articles and reviews that have received no previous academic attention.
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Doucette, Jason Francis. "The social construction of a torture sustaining reality: A rhetorical analysis of claims-making about terrorism as a social problem in the United States post 911." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/28513.
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This study examines how rhetoric was used to socially construct a torture sustaining reality in the United States after the September 11th terrorist attacks, by both print journalists and President George W. Bush's Administration. After the 9/11 attacks terrorism received wide attention from the media and public. As a result of these attacks, the United States began the ''war on terror" and invaded Afghanistan and later Iraq. During these invasions allegations of torture by the American military began to emerge.
This study carries out a content analysis of claims about terrorism and responses to allegations of torture. This analysis is guided by the contextual social constructionist approach of Joel Best (1990) and Stanley Cohen's (2001) study of "denials". The contextual social constructionist approach of Best (1990) is the theoretical departure point for a sample drawn from the New York Times as well as a sample drawn from the Internet website for the Whitehouse during George W. Bush's tenure as President. A final sample drawn from the same Whitehouse website will be engaged through an amalgamation of Best's (1990) contextual social constructionist approach and Cohen's (2001) study of "denials".
This study reveals that the construction of terrorism as a social problem aided the maintenance of a torture sustaining reality. This study further explains how rationalizations are used by a liberal government to maintain a torture sustaining reality through the use of rhetoric and denials. In addition, this study shows that a torture sustaining reality is supported through the mobilization of language that dehumanizes (the process of othering) those who stand in opposition to it. As well, this study demonstrates how the concepts of risk and moral panic also help to explain how this torture sustaining reality is maintained in a liberal state. Furthermore, this study also investigates the claim-making process. In pursuing these areas, the study illustrates how denials are rhetorically composed, or in other words what language is used and how it is used to form denials. More specifically, this study reveals how the rhetoric of denial is formed and shifts to support a torture sustaining reality during a claims-making episode. Secondly, claims-making about terrorism does not always follow the "typical" path of most claim-making about social problems. Claims-making about terrorism sometimes involves the "Rhetoric of Rectitude" and the "Rhetoric of Rationality", which can be intertwined to help predicate a torture sustaining reality, or may predominantly rely upon the "Rhetoric of Rectitude". Finally, this study alerts us to very paradoxical nature that freedom occupies in this world, and how easily the notion of freedom may be championed to justify atrocities.
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Hamill, Ann T. "Two Moral Universes: The Social Problem of the Idiots from 1845 to 1855 and Mentally Retarded Sons and Daughters from 1945 to 1955." Cincinnati, Ohio : University of Cincinnati, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view.cgi?acc_num=ucin1224774073.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Cincinnati, 2008.<br>Advisor: Annulla Linders Dr. (Committee Chair), Rhys Williams Dr. (Committee Member), Paula Dubeck Dr. (Committee Member), David Lundgren Dr. (Other). Title from electronic thesis title page (viewed Feb. 11, 2009). Keywords: social problems; social construction; idiocy; mental retardation; institutionalization; deinstitutionalization; parents' movement; historical-comparative. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.
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Cavalin, Catherine. "Objectivation savante et objet de politiques publiques : les violences interpersonnelles dans les habits neufs de la statistique et de la santé publique (France / Europe / Etats-Unis, 1995-2016)." Thesis, Paris, Institut d'études politiques, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016IEPP0046.
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Cette thèse saisit les « violences interpersonnelles » pour en interroger l’étoffe. Pourquoi et comment, depuis la Quatrième Conférence mondiale sur les Femmes de l’ONU (Pékin, 1995), les « violences interpersonnelles » ainsi dénommées dans la recherche et les politiques publiques sont-elles devenues un problème de santé publique et un objet statistique concernant au premier chef les femmes qui en sont victimes ? Pour répondre, j’éprouve la nature et la solidité de cette définition à la fois sanitaire et statistique des violences interpersonnelles. Je mobilise de nombreuses sources statistiques produites dans les deux décennies passées pour en faire un terrain d’enquête. Je me situe entre la sociologie de l’émergence du problème « violences interpersonnelles » et la sociologie des enquêtes. Pour rendre lisibles les sources quantitatives disponibles depuis vingt ans, je conduis mon analyse en entrant dans leurs motifs cognitifs et dans les dispositifs complexes dont elles sont tissées. Je saisis les discordances criantes entre ces sources et mène une comparaison à plusieurs niveaux pour en tirer des conclusions épistémo-pratiques sur : 1) la manière dont s’engage la cognition à travers les instruments de mesure ; 2) la contribution de l’histoire des catégories statistiques et l’histoire institutionnelle dans laquelle celles-ci prennent place depuis la fin des années 1960. Entre mouvements féministes, enquêtes de victimation et enquêtes de santé, entre utilitarisme et droits humains, les violences interpersonnelles demeurent un objet politique et de recherche fracturé, pour lequel le consensus sanitaire apparent contient de nombreuses incertitudes cognitives et politiques<br>This dissertation addresses interpersonal violence in order to question the texture it is made of. Why and how has it come that since the 4th UN World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995), “interpersonal violence” so named in research and public policies have become a public health issue and a statistical matter primarily concerning women as victims? To answer this question, I put the health and statistical content of interpersonal violence to the test. I mobilize numerous statistical sources that have been built during the last two decades, in order to tackle them as a fieldwork. I position my work between the sociology of the emergence of the “interpersonal violence” issue and the sociology of survey research. In order to make the sources that have been available for twenty years easier to understand, I analyze them paying a particular attention to their cognitive motives and the complex arrangements they rest upon. I address the striking gaps between these sources and compare them on several analytical levels in order to draw meaningful epistemological and practical conclusions on: 1) the way cognition is closely related to measurement tools; 2) the contribution of the history of statistical categories and the institutional history in which these categories have been taking place since the late 1960s. Between feminist movements, victimization and health surveys, between utilitarianism and human rights, interpersonal violence remains as a fractured political issue and research topic, about which the apparent public health consensus encompasses numerous cognitive and political uncertainties
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Rinaudo, Christian. "La construction sociale de l'ethnicité en milieu urbain : production et usages des catégories ethniques dans le cadre d'un quartier "sensible"." Phd thesis, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, 1998. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00080447.
Full textAbstract:
Cette thèse vise à rendre compte de l'émergence des catégories ethniques dans la société française, et à en restituer les usages dans les circonstances et les contextes dans lesquels elles sont mobilisées comme des catégories pertinentes pour interpréter les situations et organiser les interactions. Un tel objet s'inscrit dans une problématique de l'ethnicité qui place les processus d'attribution catégorielle et d'interaction au centre de l'analyse. Les questions qui se posent consistent alors à savoir comment se produisent le marquage et le maintien des frontières entre des Nous et des Eux et quels en sont les effets sur les comportements effectifs des individus engagés dans les interactions où ce processus de dichotomisation est rendu saillant.<br />L'idée qui a guidé ce travail est que c'est dans le cadre d'une reconnaissance publique du « problème des banlieues » qu'une définition en termes ethniques des situations et des événements trouve son sens dans la France contemporaine, et inversement, que l'usage des catégories ethniques pour interpréter des situations et décrire des événements parcicipe de la définition de la banlieue comme problème public.<br />A partir d'une étude de cas centrée sur un quartier de Nice typiquement labellisé comme quartier « sensible », l'enquête porte sur les modalités selon lesquelles les catégories ethniques sont rendues saillantes comme ressources de description ou d'identification des personnes et des événements. Leur usage est alors examiné à travers trois types de pratiques sociales : comme le résultat d'une production médiatique ; comme un principe de gestion institutionnelle du « malaise des banlieues » ; comme un élément de routine mobilisé dans les activités sociales qui se déroulent dans l'espace urbain.<br />Une telle investigation permet de rendre compte des formes variables que prend cette relation entre désignations ethniques et territoires stigmatisés, et de la variabilité du sens que les différents acteurs attribuent aux catégories et aux identités ethniques en fonction de la position qu'ils occupent vis-à-vis de cet espace urbain. Cette circulation du sens de l'ethnicité d'une pratique sociale à l'autre atteste ainsi de l'ethnicisation de la société française.
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Sherwood-Johnson, Fiona. "Exploring the meaning of protection from abuse : problem construction in Scottish adult support and protection practice and policy." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/17004.
Full textAbstract:
This PhD project by publication begins to explore how Scottish adult support and protection (ASP) policy and practice carves out its role and remit. It examines the ways that concepts like “abuse”, “vulnerability” and “protection” have been constructed, both by individual practitioners and at a policy level. The submission comprises five papers published in peer-reviewed journals and this contextualising document, which knits together the work and draws out overall conclusions and implications. The papers themselves report on a literature review, a further analysis of case study research into ASP practice and a critical policy comparison. The case study research was conducted immediately prior to legislative changes in Scotland with respect to ASP, and the policy comparison was conducted subsequently to these changes. Overall, the findings highlight the ways that a social constructionist approach can usefully deepen our understandings of ASP. That is, they show how understanding concepts like “protection”, “vulnerability” and “abuse” to be actively constructed in unique and complex contexts can promote criticality in policy-making, practice and research.
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Chatterton, Christopher. "Metabolic Syndrome : the construction of a 'new' medical problem and the socio-ethical consequences." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2014. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/58973/.
Full textAbstract:
The work presented here is a sociological and bioethical analysis of the medical condition known as Syndrome X/Metabolic Syndrome. The term is a recent name given to a group of cardiac/diabetic risk factors that include high cholesterol, insulin resistance, obesity, high blood pressure and high fat levels in the blood (Garber 2004). Interest in the topic was reawakened by Reaven (1988) who first coined the term ‘Syndrome X’ to describe a cluster of risk factors that he believed was linked to insulin resistance. In recent years the number of ‘new’ diseases that have been detected and identified by medicine has increased rapidly, with examples such as clinical obesity and infertility. Commentators have speculated as to why this may be happening and one suggestion is that our lives are becoming ever more medicalised (Moynihan and Smith 2002). The thesis consists of three main strands. The first strand is a sociological analysis of the Metabolic Syndrome concept and how it came to be constructed as a medical condition, with particular emphasis on whether the syndrome represents an example of the medicalisation of obesity. The second strand looks at the relationship between sociology and bioethics, and whether research from the former can help inform the ethical debate in the other. In this regard, I hope to show in this thesis that it is possible to conduct social and bioethical analyses side by side, and that these can be complementary and give you a richer understanding of a topic. The third strand is a discussion of the main ethical issues surrounding this ‘new’ diagnosis, with particular emphasis on the issue of blame and responsibility in relation to this condition.