While the concept of person-centred care in dementia has been around for 15 years or more and has attracted much interest and enthusiasm, aged care facilities continue to have difficulty in actually implementing and maintaining person-centred practices. In this study I explore the experience of one aged care facility in order to identify the barriers to changing care practice. The research took place in an ethno-specific (Jewish) aged care facility, Star of David, which was in the process of setting up a program for its residents with dementia based on person-centred principles. The methodology used in the research study was ethnographic, involving participant observation and interview, with a particular focus on a limited number of participants: four residents and their families, four senior staff, four personal care attendants and the executive director. Interviews were also conducted with staff members from three other aged care facilities. The findings showed that Star of David was unable to bring about substantial change in its care practices, while the external interviews and the literature suggest that other facilities have similar difficulties. I identify three major types of barrier: procedural barriers within the institution itself; (government) policy; and barriers relating to hegemonic values and beliefs which underpin established health care practice. These three types of barrier interact with and reinforce one another. I conclude that if we are to change care practice in institutions, we must address all of these barriers at the same time. Finally, I suggest that person-centred care itself, which continues to place emphasis on professional service provision, may only be the beginning of necessary change. In order to be truly person-centred, we need to move towards a more community based or public health approach which recognizes the need of all persons to be treated both as significant individuals and accepted as part of a community.

The notion of Queensland as a ‘Smart State’ is the Queensland Beattie Government’s response to global conditions that require a new type of worker and citizen for a new knowledge economy. The role of education in the success of the ‘Smart State’ is clearly outlined in the Queensland Government’s vision statements and policies, identifying teachers as a key factor in the production of this new type of worker and citizen. In this study I explore the relationship between Queensland’s Smart State policy and the daily practices of teachers as they are implicated in the building of a ‘Smart State’. The study takes place during what is unquestionably the largest and most comprehensive reform effort to be imposed on Queensland schools and teachers, under the auspices of a ‘Smart State’. The research includes policy analysis of two key Smart State documents, and fieldwork involving semi-structured interviews, observations and artefact collection of the work of two primary school teachers. Using Fairclough’s theories regarding the relationship between discourse and social change, it is possible to show how changes occurring in contemporary organisations are related to changes in discourse, in particular, those surrounding the discourses of a ‘knowledge economy’ or ‘globalisation’. The ‘Smart State’ is conceptualised in this study as regimes of discourses that may produce new practices and new ways of acting and being (Fairclough, 2001a). The interdiscursive, linguistic and semiotic strategies used in Smart State policy are analysed to show how this discourse is emerging into a hegemonic position, while identifying the dominant discourses reiterated in the policy as necessary skills for a new type of worker. These discourses are mapped onto those identified through the fieldwork of teachers’ daily work practices to determine if Smart State discourses are becoming apparent in teachers’ work. This study is significant because it makes visible the current relationship between the discourses of the ‘Smart State’ and teachers’ daily work. In this current climate of rapid change and economic survival it is important that the operationalization of a ‘Smart State’ can be attributed to teachers’ work as new ways of acting and interacting become a part of their daily practices.

This dissertation argues that racism in Brazil is largely a product of the Eurocentrism that presides over the formation and formulation of Brazil(ianness). The ideological construction of the nation on notions of identity and difference rooted in a Eurocentric definition of modernity has translated into an epistemological division between modern subjects (the Colonial Self: the Portuguese) and subjects of modernity (the Colonised Others: the Indian and the African). That is, between subjects and objects. The objectification of the Others can be found within the realm of the social (the Other as social object: the Slave), the cultural (the Other as cultural object: the Exotic), and the biological (the Other as sexual object: the Erotic). This epistemological division enabled the hierarchisation of differences between the Civilised Self and the Savage Other(s) and the racist (re)invention of Brazil in the 19th century. This dissertation re-examines racism in Brazil by means of the analysis of the three historical events that have come to define the nation (Discovery, Independence and Abolition) as well as the so-called essence of the nation (Hybridity). The analysis reveals that the reinvention of Brazil as a hybrid nation has not eliminated the hierarchy of differences. On the contrary, the celebration of hybridity has served to obscure the largely exploitative character of the processes of cultural hybridity [mestiçagem or transculturation] and biological hybridity [miscegenação or miscegenation] and to mask secular prejudices and discrimination against the Indian and African Others. In Brazil, hybridity still operates within the Eurocentric discourse of Brazilianness that incorporated the Indian and African Others as objects or, at best, dependent subjects in the formation and formulation of Brazil(ianness). The corollary of this is that without unthinking and undoing the Eurocentrism that informs the national imagination there is little that hybridity can do to undermine racism and white hegemony in Brazil. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of History and Politics, 2008

<p>This study explores the role of education as means of creation and maintenance of religious hegemony in Iran and Turkey. In the context of this study, state-sponsored systems of mass education aim to socialize generations of children into accepting the ideology and values of the dominant groups as the normal state of affairs. Hegemony, thus, is advanced not solely by excluding oppositional forces but by moral leadership throughout the total ideological and socio-political structure.</p><p>Reviewing the notion of education in Islam and the role of the Quran and Sunna and other sources of knowledge in Islam, the study focuses on the impact of Shari'a in forming the theories of state and education in Islam. Representing two different schools of Muslim thought, Iran and Turkey have different interpretations of the state and its role in education which determines the degree of involvement and extent of authority of the political and religious leaders over education. Unity of Islam and the state in the Iranian theocratic system provides an ideologically-laden education which is rooted in one principle: training a new generation of pious, “ideologically committed Muslims”. However, the endeavors of the Turkish secular state have been focused on establishing a mass popularized secular education in order to produce nationalist citizens.</p><p>The Iranian revolution of 1979 contributed extensively to the awakening of the religious revival, calling for a shift from a Western model of social order to the one deeply rooted in Islamic beliefs and values. The close link between education and ideology in Iran is apparent from the goals set for educating the young, most of them openly political: acceptance of God's absolute authority manifested through the authority of ulama; support for the political, economic, and cultural unity of all Islamic global community (umma) and for oppressed peoples (mustaz’afin); rejection of every form of oppression, suffering, and domination. The four ideological pillars of the Islamic Republic, inseparability of religion and politics, Islamic revival, cultural revolution, and creation of a committed Muslim, have had a direct impact on Iranian education.</p><p>The “Unity of Education Act” in the Republic of Turkey placed all educational activities under strict government control by introducing a state monopoly on education. Kemalism is based on an emphasis on national and republican principles and secularism in which religion has no place and is left out of the scope of formal education. Hence, the transmission of religious knowledge from one generation to another was only possible through informal channels such as family, the small community or underground activities of religious orders. Islam, however, gradually penetrated the public life in Turkey and challenged the secularism. The goal of the Turkish national education as to unite the entire nation through a national consciousness, to think along scientific lines, and intellectually as well as worldly, leaves no place for Islamic religious education. In spite of the government's emphasis on a secular and nationalist system, Islam remains as a force, particularly in its capacity to utilize new elements required for a modern society.</p><p>Although Islam has not yet challenged the supremacy of secular education in Turkey, it expanded its influence both in formal and informal education, content and structure.</p>

<p>The Syrian military intervention in Lebanon which began in 1976 has impacted the country in many ways. There are numerous reports about the negative impact of that intervention in addition to the ways in which Lebanon is currently being exploited by Syria in the global political arena so that Syria can achieve its goals. Manifestations of this exploitation are the many unfair, unbalanced and unjust bilateral treaties that Lebanon has signed with Syria in the aftermath of the Lebanese civil war. </p><p>However, the circumstances under which those treaties were signed as well as their implications have led to numerous debates. The manner in which Syria gained control over the Lebanese political system at the legislative, executive and judicial levels, in addition to the exploitation of Lebanon’s economic resources by means of those treaties has aroused serious concern. Therefore, the central question posed in this study is: Did the post Lebanese civil war bilateral treaties that Lebanon signed with Syria pave the way for Syrian hegemony over Lebanon? By employing the historical research method, I study past events in relation to the circumstances that led Lebanon to signing those treaties and then evaluate their effect and consequences on the present situation in terms of the economic advantages that Syria enjoys as a signatory to those treaties. </p><p>I apply a theoretical model based on Robert O Keohane’s definition of the theory of hegemonic stability. The result is that Syria, even though it is considered to be an underdeveloped market economy country, fulfills most of Keohane’s characteristics of hegemonic powers seeking preponderance of material resources. The central finding in this thesis is that the shortcomings of hegemony do apply to the Syrain presence in Lebanon due to the economic exploitation of Lebanon’s resources. </p><p>In addition, I employ Keohane’s cooperation theory and examine the “joint committees”, that were formed to regulate the application of the signed treaties, and their modus operandi. I argue tha Syria and Lebanon need to cooperate and that this cooperation needs to be regulated so that the two countries can deal with each other as equals rather than as a hegemon and a hegemonized. I claim that those committees can be the regimes that can enhance cooperation between Lebanon and Syria by means of trading based on the comparative advantages of their economic resources.</p>

<p>This examination project examines how masculinity and class affect upper secondary school guys relations towards school and education. The purpose of my project is to expand the understanding of why there is a relation between class, sex and results in studies. The examination is made according to the focusgroup method where two groupinterviews where made. One of the group consist of four guys from a practical upper secondary education and the other consist of four guys from a theoretical upper secondary education. As it shows in the resultchapter the groups also have a different class background.</p><p> </p><p>The result is best understood as a cycle where class strengthen masculinities in different ways, different masculinities have different conditions in the schoolcontext, masculinities and school are factors that strengthen the class differences. In the result I show that both groups have similar view on what to consider masculine, but the guys from the theoretical group point out masculinitie as something negative in opposite to the guys from the practical group. The idea that schoolwork is something unmasculine is clear in the answers from the theoretical group but the same idea can not be found in the answers from the practical group. The attitude towards school and education separates the groups most clearly in the attitude towards university studies. The answers indicate that teachers are one factor to why the attitude towards schoolwork differed so widely between the groups.</p><p> </p><p>In the ending a discussion is held about how school helps to maintain the patriarchy and class differences and how to counteract it.</p>

<p>Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this essay is to see how the media, through the newspaper, "Vi föräldrar”, produces family and parental roles, and to investigate how the image changed over time.</p><p>Material/Method: The material consists of a number of selected texts from the years 1968, 1988 and 2008. The method used is a discourse analysis based on the three level model by Norman Fairclough. The three levels are the text, the discourse practise and the sociocultural practise. In this study two of the levels, text and sociocultural practise, are used in analysing the texts.</p><p>Main results: Family and parenting in the texts from 1968 can be linked to the structural functionalist theory in which the core family is central and women and men are assigned to specific roles. I have chosen to call the contents of the texts of 1968 a "core family discourse." The feminist approach has influenced the content in the texts from 1988 which I call a “gender discourse”. The individualization of the late modern period has resulted in freedom for the individual without specific gender roles or traditional family frameworks, which are evident in the texts from 2008. I have therefore chosen to refer to the 2008 texts as a "lifestyle discourse".</p>

The overall aim of this thesis is to analyse the social consequences of a transnational corporation(TNC) from the global North investing capital in the global South, and the communal processes that evolve in response. The study highlights the TNC’s construction of leadership and domination in the areas in which it settles, as well as the forces of popular resistance to the TNC’s exploitation of the region’s natural resources and the resulting socio-environmental conditions. The study is based on empirical fieldwork (including 22 interviews) carried out in Uruguay and Argentina related to the establishment of a pulp mill by Botnia/UPM. The analyses focus on discursive processes whereby the TNC establishes itself in the community. The found patterns are discussed in the thesis based on the following themes: “Making the TNC indispensible” ; “Dominating the spaces of communication” ; “Controlling the narratives” ; “Contradictions of external and internal colonialism” and “Establishing and maintaining hegemony”. All of these have to do with socio-political and discursive strategies and circumstances whereby the TNC—symbolically and materially— becomes a powerful force in the country and community where it establishes itself. This creates certain social positions, and gives rise to tensions within a number of areas. In relation to these processes, the thesis also highlights the formation and mobilization of resistance against the changing social, cultural and economic conditions created through the arrival of the TNC. What appears to be crucial for the deployment of a successful counter-force is the creation of spaces for organisation, for practices of resistance and to sustain democratic values and practices. This makes the social movement an autonomous voice that incarnates disobedience against thestate, the juridical international apparatus and the hegemonic practices of TNCs.

The Syrian military intervention in Lebanon which began in 1976 has impacted the country in many ways. There are numerous reports about the negative impact of that intervention in addition to the ways in which Lebanon is currently being exploited by Syria in the global political arena so that Syria can achieve its goals. Manifestations of this exploitation are the many unfair, unbalanced and unjust bilateral treaties that Lebanon has signed with Syria in the aftermath of the Lebanese civil war. However, the circumstances under which those treaties were signed as well as their implications have led to numerous debates. The manner in which Syria gained control over the Lebanese political system at the legislative, executive and judicial levels, in addition to the exploitation of Lebanon’s economic resources by means of those treaties has aroused serious concern. Therefore, the central question posed in this study is: Did the post Lebanese civil war bilateral treaties that Lebanon signed with Syria pave the way for Syrian hegemony over Lebanon? By employing the historical research method, I study past events in relation to the circumstances that led Lebanon to signing those treaties and then evaluate their effect and consequences on the present situation in terms of the economic advantages that Syria enjoys as a signatory to those treaties. I apply a theoretical model based on Robert O Keohane’s definition of the theory of hegemonic stability. The result is that Syria, even though it is considered to be an underdeveloped market economy country, fulfills most of Keohane’s characteristics of hegemonic powers seeking preponderance of material resources. The central finding in this thesis is that the shortcomings of hegemony do apply to the Syrain presence in Lebanon due to the economic exploitation of Lebanon’s resources. In addition, I employ Keohane’s cooperation theory and examine the “joint committees”, that were formed to regulate the application of the signed treaties, and their modus operandi. I argue tha Syria and Lebanon need to cooperate and that this cooperation needs to be regulated so that the two countries can deal with each other as equals rather than as a hegemon and a hegemonized. I claim that those committees can be the regimes that can enhance cooperation between Lebanon and Syria by means of trading based on the comparative advantages of their economic resources.

This thesis is about some Swedish organizations that are connected to the labour movement and their actions to cope with the new hegemony around market liberalism. After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 90-ties, the liberal order, meaning market economy and democracy reduced to the election of elites, has become totally domineering both in the western and in the former communist world. Even left wing oriented organizations have adopted their operations and activities accordingly, especially in their internal governing structure. The organizations that I have studied, mainly the Swedish Tenants organization at its local level of Stockholm, developed during the 70-ties and the 80-ties a participatorier member structure. The “Swedish model” of consensus/corporative decision-making and agreement, used by them on the national level for decades, was during that period introduced also on local and regional levels. In the 90-ties these organizations, according to earlier studies, have instead adapted a more costumer-oriented and elite-democratic way of operating and governing. These later changes could be seen as contradicting both the development of the 80-ties and the basic values of those organizations. My questions are therefore how these changes became possible and my aim is to study how the active members have contributed to this development. Using a constructionist theoretical perspective and discourse analysis, I am showing how this potential conflict between a participatory and an elite-democratic model can be reconciled by a discursive construction. The active members have in fact been able see these changes just as a modernization of their organization. From their point-of-view their organization still works in a participatory democratic way. My analysis shows how this ambiguousness and potential paradox became possible thru internal discourses and under influence from the liberal hegemony.