Using a Social Constructionist lens, this study gathers fresh empirical data on the experience of a “Mature Student”, examining its multiple constructions, both objective and subjective, within the context of a Scottish Ancient university. For six centuries, Ancient universities have held expectations that incoming students will adjust to fit the autonomous institutional culture. However the expansion of Higher Education in 1992 has introduced changes in legislation and funding which have shifted the onus of that adjustment to the organisations themselves. This study is placed at the fundamental core of the tension between an institution struggling with the changing nature of its purpose and non-traditional students with changing expectations. Through analysis of daily journals and semi-structured interviews with 16 students and 12 staff, it explores the interpretations which both sets of actors take from student/institution interaction, and does so with respect to the student’s holistic life context rather than viewing only the learner role. Particular emphasis is placed on the losses and gains from the experience, including examination of what a degree symbolises in personal, fiscal and psychological terms. Based on a synthesis of literature reviews and empirical data, the study categorises the Mature students into three groups according to experiential themes within the student journey, drawing out theoretical and policy contributions from the process. Although mismatches are shown to exist between student and staff expectations of institutional purpose, a contemporary, and valid, role for the Ancient institution is outlined in terms of developing individual agency.

This paper looks at the intersections of nature and culture through a study of forest ecosystem restoration efforts in the Ouachita National Forest (Arkansas and Oklahoma). Ecosystem restoration goals are often informed by a pre-European settlement (PES) condition, with an implicit (and occasionally explicit) assertion that such conditions are both more natural than and preferable to the contemporary state. In many cases resuming pre-suppression fire regimes remains a key mechanism for achieving this restored condition. This study’s three main objectives include: (1) determining how PES benchmarks arose in restoration thought, (2) examining how the choice to use a PES benchmark is influenced by culture, and (3) evaluating the pragmatism of including a PES benchmark in restoration projects. The issues of the naturalness of PES conditions, along with the cultural implications of adopting a PES benchmark, are critically examined against the backdrop of historic legacies of fire suppression and paleoecological change. Normative balance-of-nature ideas are discussed in light of their influence on natural resource management paradigms. Linkages are drawn between PES conditions and forest health. Evidence supporting the ecological resilience associated with PES vegetation communities is considered alongside the anticipation of future forcing factors. The idea that restored forests represent an ecological archetype is addressed. Finally, an alternative explanation concerning the tendency of ecosystem restoration efforts to converge on a single historic reference condition – a point of equifinality – is weighed against notions of: (1) anthropic degradation, (2) a regional optimum, and (3) a socially-constructed yearning for a frontier ideal. Because of the unique convergence between historical human activities and natural processes, contemporary culture has conceived of the PES time period as a sort of frontier ideal. The creation of PES benchmarks appears to be an unintentional consequence of attempts to restore forest health rigorously defined by biometric standards. This study offers, to restoration thinking, a framework for critically evaluating the inclusion of historic reference conditions and a means of responding to criticism surrounding their use. This study's findings rest on evidence gathered from paleoecological and historical biogeography data, interviews, archival materials, cultural landscape interpretation, landscape and nature-based art, and complexity theory.

The aim of this thesis is to study how cannabis is constructed in contemporary Sweden, which policy responses are promoted as rational, and how international cannabis trends are received in this context. The four papers are the result of analyzing empirical material from three different sub-studies: 1) a qualitative study of online discussions about cannabis and drug policy, 2) a qualitative and comparative study of print media articles from 2002 and 2012, and 3) a qualitative study of oral presentations from cannabis information symposia. All papers are based on a social constructionist approach. A point of departure is that attitudes and regulations on cannabis have changed in large parts of the Western world. In Sweden, however, strict prohibition of cannabis is still central in the national drug laws. Some of the main findings can thus be gathered in discussions on continuity and change. In Swedish online discussions, there seems to be a strong desire to change the national cannabis policy in line with international developments. This discussion propagates alternative views on cannabis, in which comparisons to alcohol become vital and more liberal cannabis policies become logical. These discussions are also characterized by continuity, as many arguments for liberal cannabis policies seem to be based on traditional social democratic values and prohibitionist “scaremongering” arguments. Continuity is also what seems to characterize traditional print media, where cannabis is generally portrayed as a potent and illegal drug producing social problems. However, this arena also shows signs of change, as the material from 2012 includes stories on cannabis as an economic asset as well as a recreational substance. Both traditional print media and cannabis information symposia focus on youth consumers, who are seen as particularly vulnerable to cannabis effects. Such constructions seem important for protecting prohibition from international influences and for a continuous discourse centered on the dangers of cannabis. It is concluded that cannabis appears to be able to represent almost anything. As such it can be “used” for any purpose to promote a whole set of ideas related to policy often based on what is considered as scientific evidence. Depending on the context, it thus seems possible that cannabis is medicinal, recreational, harmful, and addictive. If so, and if all of these constructions are in some way “real,” then it is suggested that cannabis necessitates a much more tailored and nuanced response than that which prohibition can offer.

From 19th century insane asylums to state sponsored eugenic programs in the 20th century, the state has been an incongruous leader and provider of mental health policy and practice. Current practices that include such treatments as confinement, restraints, forced medication and electro-convulsive therapy continue to raise issues of social justice and humane treatment. Since the 1970s a diverse group of consumers of mental health services from political and radical emancipatory movements to consumer and family initiatives have emerged to question, inform and influence federal and state policies and services. Today state administrators and consumer-advocates meet in formal settings in which they exchange ideas as they work to affect and develop mental health policy and practice. However, such exchanges have raised new questions regarding the relationship between these two groups and their ability, in light of past practices to effectively work together to develop mental health policy and practice. The purpose of this study is to compare how state administrators and consumer-advocates perceive mental illness and how these perceptions impact policy and practice. Through a qualitative research study, the researcher compared and contrasted the perceptions of five consumer-advocates and five state administrators who are involved in major mental health policy in a rural state in order to consider how their perceptions of mental health affect policy and treatment. This study shows an emerging relationship between state administrators and consumer-advocates but a relationship that lacks communication and trust as their discourse attempts to span the gap between their two symbolic universes. The focus of consumer-advocates on the importance of their role in battling pervasive stigma and the need for people with lived experience to be central in the mental health system can be seen as an effort to overcome a historical pattern of coercion and abuse of mental health patients by the state. The focus of state administrators to remain relevant in a mental health system in which consumer-advocates challenge the status quo can be seen as their effort to retain legitimacy as well as their historic control over the mental health system. State administrators and consumer-advocates know that they exist in a new, shared world of mental health care and both groups agreed that the relationship between them needs to improve.

The diploma thesis "Framework of political communication participants in Czech internet Periodics" analyse the way Czech internet news webs portray reality, how they transform it and construct under their own demands. Through analyzing two significant Czech events in 2008 - the case of Prague culture fundation and the case of the general treaty on American radar base in the Czech Republic underwriting - it describes not only the particular frames, in which Czech webdailies arrange media communication participants, but it also intends to describe Czech webdailies background within the way they use the audiovisual components in their news, who are their news sources and how their work is influenced by citizen journalism and blogging phenomena.

The notion of Mode 2, as a shift from Mode 1 science-as-we-know-it, depicts science as practically relevant, socially distributed and democratic. Debates remain over the empirical substantiation of Mode 2. In particular, our understanding has been impeded by the mutually exclusive framing of Mode 1/Mode 2. Looking at how academic science is justified to diverse institutional interests – a situation associated with Mode 2 – it is asked, “What happens to Mode 1 where Mode 2 is in demand?” This study comprises two sequential phases. It combines interviews with 18 university spinout founders as micro-level Mode 2 exemplars, and macro-level policy narratives from 72 expert witnesses examined by select committees. An interpretive scheme (Greenwood and Hinings, 1988) is applied to capture the internal means-ends structure of each mode, where the end is to satisfy demand constituents, both in academia (Mode 1) and beyond (Mode 2). Results indicate Mode 1’s enduring influence even where non-academic demands are concerned, thus refuting that means and ends necessarily operate together as a stable mode. The causal ambiguity inherent in scientific advances necessitates (i) Mode 1 peer review as the only quality control regime systematically applicable ex ante, and (ii) Mode 1 means of knowledge production as essential for the health and diversity of the science base. Modifications to performance criteria are proposed to create a synergy between modes and justify public investment, especially in the absence of immediate outcomes. The study presents a framework of Mode1/Mode 2 coexistence that eases the problem with the either/or perception and renders Mode 2 more amenable to empirical research. It is crucial to note, though, that this is contingent on given vested interests. In this study, Mode 1’s fate is seen through academic scientists whose imperative is unique from those of other constituents, thereby potentially entailing further struggles and negotiation.

Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka och problematisera hur regler inverkar på den överordning pedagoger har i förhållande till elever utifrån generationsmaktordningen. Som grund för resultatet ligger kvalitativa observationer från tre fritidshem och kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra pedagoger från dessa. Det empiriska materialet analyseras med hjälp av socialkonstruktivism samt ett barnistiskt perspektiv. Dessa teorier grundar sig i antaganden om att vi socialt konstruerar vår verklighet samt att man kan se orättvisor och underordning utifrån ett ålders och maktperspektiv. Resultatet visar att fritidshemmet är en komplex arena där elever förväntas navigera mellan regler som är synliga, osynliga, föränderliga och svårtolkade. Det visar sig även att regler synliggörs genom tillrättavisningar som sker i olika situationer och på olika sätt. Under intervjuerna beskrivs elevernas motstånd mot regler, men är inte helt oproblematiskt på grund av hur pedagogerna tolkar motståndet och värderar det. En slutsats är att regler, hur de skapas och hur de upprätthålls förstärker den överordning pedagoger har på ett till viss del omotiverat sätt. Men att detta är något som kan utmanas och omförhandlas. / The purpose of this study has been to explore and problematize how rules affect the superiority educators have in relation to pupils, based on the generation power structure. As a basis for the result are qualitative observations from three recreation centers and qualitative interviews with four educators from these. The empirical material is analyzed with the help of social constructivism and a childish perspective. These theories are based on the assumption that we socially construct our reality as well as to see injustices and subordination based on an age and power perspective. The results show that the recreation centre is a complex arena where pupils are expected to navigate between rules that are visible, invisible, changeable and difficult to interpret. It also shows that rules are made visible through reprimands that take place in different situations and in different ways. During the interviews, pupils resistance to rules is described, but is not entirely unproblematic because of the way educators interpret the resistance and value it. One conclusion is that rules, how they are created and how they are maintained reinforce the superiority educators have in a partially unjustified manner. But that this is something that can be challenged and renegotiated.

Självledarskap är ett forskningsområde som blev ett omtalat fenomen under mitten av 1980-talet. Det finns dock inte mycket forskning kring hur självledarskap kommer till uttryck inom en specifik organisation. Vi ville, genom en kvalitativ studie, skapa en ökad förståelse för hur självledarskap kommer till uttryck genom organisationskultur på e- handelsföretaget Desenio. Tre självledarskapsstrategier användes för att tolka och skapa en förståelse för självledarskapet i organisationen. Vi utförde en fallstudie som inkluderade tio intervjuer med medarbetare och Vd:n på företaget som fick berätta om sina erfarenheter och föreställningar om självledarskap. För att skapa en förståelse för omgivningen och kulturen utförde vi även observationer på Desenio som ett komplement till de utförda intervjuerna. Vi kunde i vår studie identifiera de tre självledarskapsstrategierna hos samtliga medarbetare. Vad som framgick var dock att ingen av strategierna fullt ut kunde identifieras hos medarbetarna, utan att strategierna till viss del identifierades. Vi kom även fram till att organisationskulturen format självledarskapet då medarbetarnas arbetssätt och beteenden speglas av kulturen och värderingarna på Desenio. / Self-leadership is a concept within leadership research that emerged in the mid-1980s. However, there are only a few studies about self-leadership within a specific organization. Our aim was therefore to develop a greater understanding of how self-leadership is expressed within the e-commerce organization Desenio. We explored how the organizational culture has shaped self-leadership within the organization. We used three cognitive and behavioral self-leadership strategies to develop a greater understanding of how self-leadership is expressed in the organization. We have made a qualitative case study that includes ten interviews with employees and the CEO of the organization, where the individuals expressed their experiences and thoughts about self-leadership. We completed the empirical study with observations of the working environment to get a better understanding of the culture. The implications of the study are that the three self- leadership strategies could be identified in the employees. However, none of the strategies could be identified to a full extent. We also concluded that the organizational culture has shaped self-leadership since the work behavior of the employees could be related to the culture and the values at Desenio.

L'adolescent ne peut se construire socialement qu'en sortant de l'histoire dans laquelle l'adulte l'a inscrit, pour se créer sa propre histoire. Mais sortir de l'histoire de l'Autre ne veut pas dire s'en défaire totalement, car nous n'échappons pas au poids de l'héritage. Il s'agit de s'approprier certains aspects de cette histoire héritée et d’en rejeter d'autres pour laisser la place à de nouveaux emprunts et appropriations qui ne peuvent s'actualiser que dans la relation à l'Autre. La construction de soi passe donc inévitablement par des tracés de frontières sociales toujours renégociées et concrétisées par la création et l'appropriation d'usages sociaux.Cette thèse a pour but d'analyser comment ces processus de construction identitaire se manifestent dans et par la construction de nouveaux usages ou par la réappropriation d’usages existants. Elle aura pour terrain d'observation les pratiques sociales en usage dans le rap français, musique d'adolescents par excellence, non seulement parce qu'écoutée, mais aussi et surtout parce que construite par des adolescents (généralement, on entre dans le rap en début d’adolescence).Il s'agira d’abord de montrer comment l’identité du rap français s’est construite, à la croisée d’histoires présentes et passées, en mettant en évidence la manière dont le rapport dialectique au principe de la personne impose à ces jeunes la construction de frontières particulières qui font d'eux ces rappeurs particuliers, par opposition aux non-rappeurs, mais aussi aux rappeurs non français, américains par exemple. Ensuite, il s’agira de comprendre pourquoi un certain type d’adolescents a fait le choix d’adhérer au monde du rap, et comment les pratiques rapologiques conditionnent la manière dont leur identité sociale se construit. / In his identity building process, an adolescent has to establish a separation from family history in order to start building up his own. However, separating oneself from the Other’s history does not mean getting rid of it definitively, as nobody can escape the weight of social inheritance. It is mainly a question of appropriating some aspects of the inherited past while rejecting others to allow for new borrowings and appropriations, which is possible only through contact with others. Therefore, the construction of oneself clearly depends on the definition of social boundaries which are repeatedly negotiated and which find their expression in the creation and the appropriation of new social practices.The aim of this thesis is to analyse the identity construction process and especially the construction of new social practices – or the re-appropriation of existing ones – which formalise it. This will be done by observing some of those social practices which are typical of French rap as a kind of music mainly prized by adolescents: it is not only listened to but also practised by adolescents (they usually get into rap music at the very beginning of their teenage years).The first task will be to show that the identity of French rap is the result of multiple interferences between past and present cultures. The purpose is to highlight the force of the dialectical relationship which is central to the construction of the social being. Particular attention will be paid to this dialectical relationship as a key factor of the way these young people define themselves as a specific group of rappers, in contrast to those who do not belong to the rap world, but also in contrast to foreign rappers, such as American ones. Then, the objective will be to explain why certain teenagers have decided to be part of the rap world and how the rap practices determine their identity formation process.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:18:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rosemary Rodrigues Miguel.pdf: 1279985 bytes, checksum: 359347d13e970d718895332696ae4d8c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-06-11 / The interest regarding the aging theme has been increasing in the world scenery and in Brazil along half second the century XX. In the Analysis of the Behavior, Skinner (1983) suggested that aging should be studied as any other behavior through the paradigm of the selection by consequences. Moreover, the understanding that the human aging could be analyzed as social phenomenon and how it has been socially constructed by the press, under Guerin's perspective, was the goal of this present research. To verify how that has been occurring, the digital file of the magazine Veja was chosen for analyzing a way of great circulation communication. Digitalized issues between 1968 and 2009 were analyzed, selected from the key words related to aging theme. Besides that, such issues were analyzed regarding their formal aspects and of content, and the last were highlighted starting from themes referred to the present aging in Skinner's book (1983) on the old age. The main results show that the biggest number of issues was the Reports, however, they introduced a little expressive number along 41 years of publication. Most issues were written by professionals or people of the area of the health or of the aging, and the information was directly geared to the senior people in majority. It could be verified that great part of the information supplied by the media on the aging had, as antecedent, other verbal reports revealing a possible linkage, being intra verbal behaviors which are the base for the socially constructed knowledge according to Guerin. The distribution of the issues along the time belonged to an irregular way, highlighting years of 1983 and after 1999, what suggests a relation with important events: the Senior National Year and the Senior International Year, respectively. This fact is important, because it suggests that the media answers to the opportunities that the market offers, aiming to please consumers and to increase profits, carrying to the matter if it really promotes a social construction of the aging. Regarding the most discussed subjects, these were found: Cares with the Health, Emotional Alterations in the Aging, Physiologic Process of the Aging and Retirement X Work. With this result, it is possible to infer how much Skinner's book is current and useful to people who are aging and the ones who are already senior. In front of the results, the author does not consider probable that has occurred a social construction about the human aging theme has occurred, since the number of issues is very low, in addition to that, it is not possible to know, in fact, who the readers of these issues are. All this shows the urgency with that analysts of the behavior ought to promote more researches in the area of human aging, expanding their performances / O interesse em relação ao tema envelhecimento humano vem aumentando no cenário mundial e no Brasil ao longo da segunda metade do século XX. Na Análise do Comportamento, Skinner (1983) sinalizou que o envelhecer deveria ser estudado como qualquer outro comportamento através do paradigma da seleção por conseqüências. E ainda, o entendimento de que o envelhecimento humano poderia ser analisado como fenômeno social, e vem sendo socialmente construído pela mídia impressa, sob a perspectiva de Guerin, foi o objetivo da presente pesquisa. Para verificar como isso vem ocorrendo, optou-se por analisar um meio de comunicação de grande circulação, o acervo digital da revista Veja. Foram analisadas matérias digitalizadas no período de 1968 até 2009, selecionadas a partir de palavras-chave relacionadas ao tema envelhecimento. Além disso, tais matérias foram analisadas em relação aos seus aspectos formais e de conteúdo, sendo que os últimos foram destacados a partir de temas referentes ao envelhecimento presentes no livro de Skinner (1983) sobre a velhice. Os principais resultados apontam que o maior número de matérias foram as Reportagens, entretanto, apresentou um número pouco expressivo ao longo de 41 anos de publicação. A maior parte das matérias foi escrita por profissionais ou pessoas da área da saúde ou do envelhecimento, e as informações eram diretamente voltadas às pessoas idosas também em sua maioria. Pôde-se constatar que grande parte das informações fornecidas pela mídia sobre o envelhecimento teve como antecedentes outros relatos verbais, revelando um possível encadeamento, tratando-se de comportamentos intraverbais, que são a base para o conhecimento socialmente construído segundo Guerin. A distribuição das matérias ao longo do tempo foi de maneira irregular, destacando-se os anos de 1983 e após 1999, o que sugere uma relação com eventos importantes: o Ano Nacional do Idoso e o Ano Internacional do Idoso, respectivamente. Este fato é importante, pois sugere que a mídia responde às oportunidades que o mercado oferece, visando agradar consumidores e aumentar lucros, levando ao questionamento se ela, realmente, promove uma construção social do envelhecimento. Em relação aos assuntos mais tratados foram encontrados: Cuidados com a Saúde, Alterações Emocionais no Envelhecimento, Processo Fisiológico do Envelhecimento e Aposentadoria X Trabalho. Com este resultado, é possível inferir o quanto o livro de Skinner é atual e útil para as pessoas que estão envelhecendo e as que já são idosas. Diante dos resultados, a autora não considera provável que tenha ocorrido uma construção social sobre o tema envelhecimento humano, já que o número de matérias é muito baixo, além do que, não é possível saber, de fato, quem são os leitores dessas matérias. Tudo isto mostra a urgência de que os analistas do comportamento promovam mais pesquisas na área de envelhecimento humano, expandindo suas atuações