En adoptant une approche psychosociale, cette thèse vise à rendre compte de la façon dont nous jugeons une personne contaminée par le VIH dans le contexte de la Grèce. Nous étudions la construction sociale de la responsabilité en relation avec le VIH en s’appuyant sur l’approche des représentations sociales. Notre démarche s’inscrit dans une stratégie de triangulation méthodologique qui articule des approches qualitatives et des opérations quasi-expérimentales. Premièrement, nous avons mené une recherche qualitative par entretien auprès de 40 acteurs du monde politique et socio-sanitaire grec (politiques, personnels administratifs, scientifiques et associatifs) sur les politiques de prévention du VIH. Deuxièmement, une analyse de presse a été réalisée (corpus de 172 articles publiés dans 25 quotidiens grecs durant l’année 2004) sur la construction du sida via la communication sociale. Sur la base des principaux résultats issus des analyses de ces données (vision morale et stigmatisante de la maladie, maladie du dehors), deux recherches quasi-expérimentales ont été réalisées chez les futurs enseignants du primaire sur les explications et la responsabilisation d’une personne contaminée par le VIH dans des conditions socialement normées (mode de contraction, endo/exo-groupe). Les résultats montrent que les jugements à l’égard de la personne contaminée sont influencés par les représentations que les sujets ont de la maladie (contagieuse vs transmissible) et par le statut social de la personne cible (déviant, étranger). Les enjeux théoriques (dynamique sociocognitive de la responsabilisation et maladie marquée socialement) et les implications pratiques (responsabilité, VIH et prévention, formation des enseignants) de ces recherches sont discutés. / This thesis’ goal is to explore judgement formation about an HIV+ person in the sociocultural context of Greece, by implementing a psychosocial approach. We examine the social construction of responsibility of HIV through social representations, by utilising a strategy of triangulation methodology using both qualitative and quasi-experimental operations. First, we conducted a qualitative research by interviewing 40 actors involved in decision-making (politicians, state administrators, scientists, activists) chosen on the basis of their roles in the political, social and health sectors in Greece, on the topic of HIV prevention policies. Secondly, we carried out a press analysis, based on a 172 articles corpus, published in the Greek daily press (25 newspapers) over 2004, in order to understand how social communication affects construction of AIDS. Finally, two quasi-experimental researches based on the key findings of data analysis (moral and stigmatizing vision of the disease, disease of outside), were carried out among future primary school teachers on suggested explanations and responsibility’s attribution toward people infected with HIV under standardized social conditions (transmission mode, in/out group). The results show that judgments are influenced by subjects’ representations about the disease (contagious vs infectious) and social status of the target person (deviant, foreigner). The theoretical issues (socio-cognitive dynamics of responsibility attribution, socially significant disease) and practical implications (responsibility, HIV and prevention, teachers’ training) of this research are discussed.

The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to a deeper understanding of how the national community is reproduced and delineated in relation to class, gender and racialisation. It uses a qualitative methodology and interviews with people chosen to represent an economic margin, and is theoretically informed by Pierre Bourdieu, Beverly Skeggs and others. In interviewees’ accounts about work life and societal change, traces are found regarding how the national community is delineated, and how value for the community is claimed or denied. The main findings are that a national community is connected through the idea of value for the community, and that the dominating ideas concerning this value change over time in accordance with economic, political and discursive processes. Recognition is a condition for access to the labour market and for the right to contribute to the future of the community. The values and the community are not homogenous; there is room for competing values and thus competing ways of recognition. Those with less recognised resources get their value for the community questioned in relation to current hegemonic values. Adaptability to the needs of the labour market in terms of expectations of geographic flexibility and the right attitude are common demands that implicitly presumes economic and social resources. Misrecognition of resources and value also relate to the social process of racialisation. Whiteness can be regarded as the result of recognised national inclusion in a country such as Sweden where the ideal of light skin and blue eyes have gained hegemonic position through history. Class relations as well as male domination over women works through the same mechanisms of misrecognition and excluded experiences.

Dans ce travail de thèse, nous cherchons à faire dialoguer Sartre et Bataille dont la confrontation dans les années quarante et cinquante a la signification, à notre sens, d’une rencontre entre deux pensées de l’expérience et de l’existence que nous proposons d’appeler respectivement « pensée de la liberté » et « pensée de la souveraineté ». Il s’agit, dans un premier temps, d’esquisser comment ces deux pensées ont pu se rencontrer sous forme de confrontation et, pour ce faire, de restituer l’horizon à partir duquel elles ont pu se formuler : si Sartre a reproché à Bataille d’avoir confondu dans L’expérience intérieure l’attitude scientifique et l’attitude existentialiste et d’avoir décrit ainsi une expérience nullement intérieure, c’est qu’en adoptant une méthode phénoménologique pour décrire la rencontre concrète de l’existence par elle-même en tant qu’existence temporelle, il entend par « expérience » ce que les phénoménologues allemands appellent « Erlebnis » et ce qui est dans son essence une sphère d’immanence radicalement infusionnable avec d’autres sphères du même type, tandis que l’expérience intérieure telle que Bataille la définit culmine précisément dans une fusion de l’intérieur et de l’extérieur que celui-ci considère d’ailleurs comme exigence fondamentale d’une phénoménologie de l’esprit développée et en vue de laquelle il exige une existence immédiate, sans délai, enfoncée dans l’instant. L’enjeu d’une telle divergence sur le sens de l’expérience et, corrélativement, de l’existence est d’autant plus profond que ces deux penseurs ont tous pour dessein d’établir une morale à ceci près qu’il s’agit, pour l’un, d’une morale de la souveraineté dont le sens est paradoxalement hypermoral et, pour l’autre, d’une morale de la liberté qui ne peut être atteinte qu’au terme d’une conversion radicale. En quoi consistent-elles ces deux morales ? Comment sont-elles accrochées à deux pensées différentes voire opposées de l’expérience et de l’existence ? Telles sont les deux questions auxquelles nous tenterons, en dernière instance, de répondre pour mieux mesurer l’enjeu de la confrontation entre Sartre et Bataille et, par là, établir un dialogue qui est de prime abord improbable. / In this dissertation, we seek to construct a dialogue between Sartre and Bataille whose confrontation in the forties and fifties should be considered, in our view, as an encounter between two ways of thinking experience and existence that we would like to call, respectively, « thinking of liberty » and « thinking of sovereignty ». We are going to, firstly, outline how these two thinkings could encounter with each other in a confrontational way and, for this purpose, to restore the horizon from which they were able to formulate themselves : if Sartre criticized Bataille for confusing, in The inner experience, the scientific attitude with the existentialiste one and, therefore, describing an experience which is not inner at all, that’s because in adopting a phenomenological method to describe the concrete encounter of existence – which is temporal – by itself, he understood « experience » as what the German phenomenologists called « Erlebnis », namely a sphere of immanence which is radically infusionnable with other spheres of the same type, while the inner experience as Bataille defined it culminates precisely in a fusion of the inner and the exterior that he considered as the fundamental demanding of a developped phenomenology of mind in responding to which he required an immediate existence, that is to say an existence without daly, immerged in the instant. What’s at stake in such a divergence on the meaning of experience and, correspondingly, of existence has much further implications in that both of these two thinkers had the very intention to establish the morality except that for one, it’s a morality of sovereignty whose meaning is paradoxically hypermoral while for the other, it should be a morality of liberty that can only be reached through a radical conversion. What could we learn from these two moralities ? How are they linked to two different, even opposite ways of thinking experience and existence ? These are the two questions that we will try, finally, to respond in order to better measure the stakes of the confrontation between Sartre and Bataille and thus to establish a dialogue which seems prima facie improbable.

Magister Commercii - MCom / Against the background of major corporate scandals internationally and in South Africa, questions are being asked about the level of morality of leaders in organisations. This study assessed the level of moral reasoning of senior managers in a South African company in the insurance industry. The study was based on Kohlberg’s Cognitive Moral Development (CMD) Theory and an assessment of key literature pieces relating to ethical leadership and business ethics. Research has demonstrated that ethical leaders have a significant influence on an organisation’s performance, reputation, sustainability, ethical climate and employee engagement. Globally and in the South African corporate context it is therefore important for organisations to understand the capacity of its leaders to behave ethically so that appropriate interventions can be engaged in. More specifically, this study aimed to assess the level of moral reasoning of managers in a large South African organisation and examined the relationship between the variables age, gender, race, tenure and education on the one hand and the level of moral reasoning on the other hand. This study also assessed the reliability of the Managerial Moral Judgment Test (MMJT). This study was a cross-sectional, quantitative study utilising a previously developed questionnaire, the Managerial Moral Judgment Test. This study contributed to the very sparse body of knowledge of managerial moral reasoning in the South African business context, while the research results can be used to identify managerial training and development needs in ethics in the organisation studied. This study found that the moral reasoning levels of managers at the research site, is at the conventional level, while the variables age, gender, race, tenure and education have no significant influence on the level of moral reasoning. In addition, this study established the internal reliability of the Managerial Moral Judgment Test and located ethical leadership and business ethics in the literature.

This thesis is a critical inquiry into the response to the Rwandan genocide of 1994 by Christians and Muslims. Structured around the thesis that Muslims resisted the genocide better than Christians, it explores the historical, cultural, political and theological causes that motivated and explain the actions of both faith communities in the face of genocide. The first chapter offers a critique of the dominant colonial perspective from which the topic of religion and genocide has been studied so far. It presents pre-colonial Rwandans as evolving in a complex spiritual universe, Gakondo, where religion, morality and politics were closely linked. The rise of a centralised state and sacred monarchy resulted in the theological marginalisation of the Rwandan divinity Imana and the deformation of the political conscience of the Rwanda subject. The second and the third chapter deal respectively with the beginnings of Christianity and Islam in Rwanda within the context of colonization. They show the genealogy of Christianity’s political ambivalence and Islam’s marginalisation, both which played an important role in the genocide of 1994. One significant contribution of the second chapter is to problematise the epistemological confusion between Rwandan Christianity and Roman Catholicism. Chapter four suggests a framework for the understanding of ‘Rwanda 94’ as an instance of evil. It offers a critique of the epistemic hijacking that characterises research in the Rwandan events. The chapter argues for a historical and naturalistic approach to the study of ‘Rwanda 94’, which should be qualified as ‘autocide’ instead of genocide because of the intimacy between victims and perpetrators. Chapter five and six tackle the thesis that Muslims resisted the genocide better than Christians. Examination of the factual data and revisionist discourses in post-genocide Rwanda lead to the conclusion that the imputation of success to Islam and failure to Christianity is operated by virtue of expectations on both faith communities. More specifically, chapter six provides a theological reading of Christianity’s shortcomings as sin. Chapter seven addresses the paradoxical phenomenon of religious blossoming in post-genocide Rwanda and argues that it is faith-based resistance to genocide shown by many Muslims and individual Christians which made ‘God-talk’ possible and ensured the survival of institutional religion. Chapter eight gives a summary and critique of the process of reconciliation in post-genocide Rwanda. It argues that Islam and Christianity need to develop an alternative model of reconciliation that challenges and moralises the State-engineered politics of reconciliation.

This research emerges from an observation that Douglas Adams’s Hitch Hiker Series is not merely characterised by light-hearted comedy, but is underpinned by intricate philosophical ideas, especially those of twentieth century Existentialism and the related notion of absurdity. The study also investigates the interlaced functions of Adams’s fantasy and landscapes of alterity. Paradoxically, Adams’s fantastical creatures serve to illuminate the human condition and the follies and monstrosities that lurk at the heart of humanity. Not only does Adams’s fantasy mirror the maladies of twentieth century society, thus serving a satirical function, but it is also a mechanism for constructing meaning in the shape of alternative realities. Concepts related to alterity, such as simulation (Baudrillard), the structure of ‘reality’, dreaming (Descartes) and parallel universes are investigated as building blocks of Adams’s fantastic story space. Furthermore, the ideas of Sartre, Camus and other originators of Existentialism, a philosophy which considers the futility of existence and the compulsion to construct subjective meaning, are elucidated and explored in relation to Adams’s work. Existentialist concepts such as facticity and angst, as well as the Beckettian universe and the Theatre of the Absurd, are also discussed in the light of the Hitch Hiker series. Adams’s extensive satirical comment is also emphasised in this study. Adams’s satire does not merely castigate the evils of twentieth century society such as capitalism and bureaucracy, it also unmasks universal human vices such as pomposity and grandiosity, vices that are rooted in the rejection of objective morality. Although Adams comments on the folly at the heart of society, he also presents the reader with an alternative: the subjective reconstruction of one’s inner world in an attempt to spin individual webs of meaning from the nothingness at the world’s core. This study also investigates the ambiguous concept of madness as a subjective reality born of the necessity to construct meaning, and analyses Adams’s alternative landscapes based on the suggestion that ‘much madness is divinest sense’ (Emily Dickenson, in Ferguson et al., 1996: 1015). / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / English / MA / unrestricted

In his monograph on Sepedi/North Sotho, Groenewald (1993:19) describes Moses Josiah Madiba as one of the first authors of didactic or moral tales. He also points out that Madiba’s contribution includes other kinds of works, such as poetry and school readers. Groenewald (1993:19) emphasises Madiba’s pioneering role in the development of literature in Sepedi. Because he was one of the earliest writers in Sepedi, his influence on the development of this literature should not be underestimated. In this study, the focus is therefore on the writing of Madiba as an author, but only his novelette Tsiri (1953) is selected for specific analysis. In the analysis, the content and structure of the work are discussed in detail and they are interpreted against the historical background of Sepedi literature in order to highlight Madiba’s place in this literature. The descriptive model used in this study is an adaptation of the narratological model. It requires a comprehensive definition of the relevant concepts. In this case a distinction is made between the theme and topic as concepts. The elements of the content, namely the characters, the action, the milieu and historical time, are defined precisely. The novelette deals with the difficult life circumstances encountered by the protagonist, which result in his falling into a life of laziness. The relationship that develops between the various characters is highlighted in terms of the topic. The historical course of the facets of the action is described. The various time aspects are closely examined, after which the milieu is discussed. The entire discussion is situated in an historical framework in order to reveal the importance of Madiba in the history of this literature. The structure of the work is discussed in four sections. First, the theme of the story, the narrative strategy, the title and the pillars on which the structure rests are discussed. Second, characterization is explored, with particular emphasis on Tsiri and his father, Madubaduba, who respectively represent the negative and positive poles in the novelette. This includes a discussion of the various narrative techniques which are used to persuade the reader to accept Tsiri after he repents. Third, the milieu is described in as far as it supports the theme. It contributes to the rationale for the turning point in Tsiri’s life. The milieu is functionally incorporated by means of a multitude of techniques. Fourth, the study focuses on the action, which presents the events in terms of an exposition, the development, climax and dénouement. Once the author has indicated the conflict between the main characters, he uses a variety of narrative moments to increase tension. In particular, he uses changes of the point of view and focalisation extensively. As can be expected in the early works in any literature, there are some bothersome structural flaws, and in this case they are related specifically to the use of the different points of view, where there is no clear rationale for the presence of the author’s moralisation. Although this flaw is pointed out, this does not imply a negative critical analysis of the work. The fact remains that Madiba writes in a flowing narrative style and that his Sepedi language usage is impeccable, which makes him an important pioneer in the history of Sepedi literature. His pioneering work in the educational arena positions him as a champion of the Sepedi language. Further studies could evaluate his other novelettes and poems against this background. AFRIKAANS : In sy monografie oor die Sepedi/Noord Sotho letterkunde beskryf Groenewald (1993:19) Moses Josiah Madiba as een van die eerste skrywers van die didaktiese of morele verhaal. Hy wys ook daarop dat Madiba se bydrae ander werke insluit, byvoorbeeld gedigte en skoolleesboeke. Groenewald (1993:19) beklemtoon Madiba se baanbrekerswerk in die Sepedi letterkunde. Omdat hy een van die vroegste skrywers in Sepedi was, mag sy invloed op die ontwikkeling van hierdie letterkunde nie onderskat word nie. In hierdie studie word die ondersoek derhalwe op die skrywerskap van Madiba toegespits, maar slegs die novelle Tsiri (1953) word vir spesifieke ontleding uitgesonder. In die bespreking word die inhoud en die struktuur van die werk indringend beskryf en dit word teen die historiese agtergrond van die Sepedi letterkunde geïnterpreteer om sodoende Madiba se plek in hierdie letterkunde duidelik uit te lig. Die beskrywingsmodel wat in hierdie studie gebruik word, is ‘n aanpassing van die narratologiese model. Dit vereis ‘n volledige omskrywing van die begrippe wat ter sprake kom. In hierdie geval word daar tussen die tema en die onderwerp as begrippe onderskei. Ook die elemente waaruit die inhoud bestaan, naamlik die karakters, die handeling, die milieu en historiese tyd, word presies omskryf. Die novelle handel oor die hooffiguur se moeilike lewensomstandighede, wat daartoe bydra dat hy in luiheid verval. Die verhouding wat tussen die verskillende karakters ontwikkel, word ten opsigte van die onderwerp uitgelig. Die historiese verloop van die fasette van die handeling word beskryf. Die verskillende tydsaspekte word onder die loep geneem, waarna die milieu bespreek word. Die hele bespreking word binne ‘n historiese raamwerk geplaas sodat die betekenis van Madiba in die geskiedenis van hierdie letterkunde na vore kom. Die struktuur van die werk word in vier afdelings behandel. Eerstens word die tema, die vertelstrategie, die titel en pilare waarop die struktuur staan, bespreek. Tweedens word karaktertekening nagegaan; en hier val die kollig op Tsiri en sy vader Madubaduba, wat onderskeidelik die negatiewe en positiewe pole in die verhaal verteenwoordig. Dit sluit ‘n bespreking in van die verskillende verteltegnieke waardeur die leser oorgehaal word om Tsiri, na sy berou, te aanvaar. Derdens, word die milieu beskryf en wel in soverre dit die tema ondersteun. Dit dra daarom by dat die keerpunt in Tsiri se lewe gemotiveer word. Deur ‘n veelheid van tegnieke word die milieu funksioneel ingespan. Vierdens val die klem op die handeling wat onder vier hoofde aan die orde kom, te wete die eksposisie, die ontwikkeling, die klimaks en die ontknoping. Nadat die outeur die botsing tussen die hooffigure aangedui het, kom hy met ‘n verskeidenheid vertelgrepe vorendag om die spanning uit te bou. Daar word veral gebruik gemaak van gesigspuntwisseling en fokussering word ekstensief aangewend. Soos te wagte in enige vroeë werk in ‘n letterkunde, kom daar hinderlike struktuurfoute voor, en in dié geval lê dit juis by die aanwending van die gesigspunttegnieke, waar die teenwoordigheid van die outeur se moralisering nie duidelik gemotiveer word nie. Hoewel die gebrek uitgewys word, lei dit nie na ‘n kritiese ontleding van die werk nie. Die saak is dat Madiba ‘n vloeiende vertelmanier het en dat sy taal in onbesproke Sepedi is, wat hom in die geskiedenis van die Sepedi letterkunde ‘n belangrike baanbreker maak. Sy pionierswerk op die gebied van die onderwys plaas hom as taalstryder voorop. In verdere studies sou sy ander novelles en gedigte teen hierdie agtergrond beoordeel kan word. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / African Languages / unrestricted

European security and defence policy has developed at a significant rate since the late 1990s. As a growing field of analysis, there have been few studies to date that have explored the foreign and domestic implications of the European Union's emerging security and defence policies. This thesis seeks to assess the quality and effectiveness of the present day defence policies of the European Union through an examination of its commitment to civilian and military missions abroad. In so doing, this thesis suggests that these missions stem from a misguided belief that the promotion of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law beyond its border is the most effective means by which to achieve security within Europe. This thesis concludes that the economic and political tools available to the European Union provide a better means by which to ensure security in Europe and around the world.

A pesquisa tem como objetivo geral defender uma interpretação específica do valor da igualdade. Contra teorias que não reconhecem a igualdade como um valor moral intrínseco - como as teorias libertarianas, instrumentalistas e suficientaristas da justiça -, e contra a visão distributivista da igualdade - encontrada, por exemplo, no chamado igualitarismo de fortuna - a tese formula e avalia com base em argumentos normativos uma interpretação relacional do valor da igualdade denominada de igualitarismo social. A especificidade do igualitarismo social encontra-se em seu fundamento: um ideal de respeito mútuo responsável por governar as relações interpessoais entre pessoas livres e iguais. Ao defender a plausibilidade de concepções relacionais de igualdade, espera-se demonstrar que a igualdade social é capaz fornecer uma base (i) coerente, (ii) moralmente relevante, e (iii) distributivamente determinada para a justiça igualitária. Para isso, a tese argumenta, em primeiro lugar, que o uso da coerção coletiva entre iguais em autoridade demanda uma forma especifica de justificação intrapessoal uma atitude que denominarei de respeito deliberativo. Com base na noção de respeito deliberativo é possível ressaltar a existência de um tipo determinado de desrespeito igualitário, qual seja: o desrespeito performativo na reivindicação de direitos. A ideia de respeito deliberativo pode ser formulada com base nas contribuições filosóficas recentes de uma moralidade de segunda de pessoa, tal como formulada por Stephen Darwall, isto é, como um tipo de justificação normativa fundada na responsabilização mútua entre agentes morais. Finalmente, a tese argumenta que o igualitarismo social é compatível com princípios gerais de justiça social. Dois desses princípios são apresentados e analisados: (i) o princípio de mínimo cívico e (ii) o princípio de participação na riqueza social. De um ponto de vista igualitário, atender às exigências de ambos os princípios deve ser compreendido como uma condição de necessidade para uma cidadania democrática justa. / The work holds that the value of equality is best understood in a determined way. Against nonegalitarian theories such as libertarian, instrumentalist and sufficentarian theories - on one side, and distributive-based theories such as the luck egalitarianism - on the other, the thesis offers and evaluate, based on normative arguments, a relational interpretation of egalitarianism to be called social egalitarianism. What makes social egalitarianism a distinctive type of theory is its normative foundation: an ideal of mutual respect responsible for governing the interpersonal relations between free and equal persons. The work intends to show that a relational interpretation of equality is able to provide the basis for a (i) coherent, (ii) morally relevant, and (iii) distributive determined ground for egalitarian theories of justice. In order to stablish all that, it shows, first, how the legitimate exercise of political coercion among equals in authority brings about a particular kind of interpersonal attitude, called deliberative respect. Next, it is argued that the notion of deliberative respect allows us to conceptualize a particular instance of disrespect among equals, namely, the performative disrespect against a right-holder, and showing why respectful relations among equals in authority should be framed in a secondperson standpoint morality a morality according to each people are mutually accountable to each other - as the idea has been developed by Stephen Darwall. Finally, the work argues for the conceptual compatibility between social egalitarianism, on one hand, and distributive principles of justice, on the other. Two principles of justice are considered: (i) the principle of the civic minimum and (ii) the principle of participation in social wealth. From an egalitarian standpoint, both principles are required in order to bring about a just democratic citizenship.

This thesis seeks to, firstly, define corruption in the context of corruption tolerance and secondly, to assess how citizens’ corruption tolerance is constructed. Corruption tolerance is discussed in the context of trust, democracy and levels of corruption. For the micro analysis, surveys were conducted in Mexico and Poland to determine citizens’ levels of corruption tolerance. It was found that even though the political and cultural reality is very different in both countries and levels of corruption are significantly higher in Mexico than Poland, corruption tolerance amongst citizens was at a very similar level for both populations. Moreover, it could be established that different understandings of corruption influence corruption tolerance. Low tolerance of single immoral acts such as bribery, election fraud and favouritism was met by low tolerance of corruption in general. The macro analysis showed that neither interpersonal trust nor trust in the government predicts low corruption tolerance. However, levels of democracy are found to be reliable indicators of levels of corruption tolerance, proving to be more reliable than levels of corruption.