Sociological interest in the relationship between the social structure and health began with the classic work of Durkheim, who first identified socially constructed patterns of suicide rates in Western European countries. Drawing on this structural tradition, a large literature has investigated how health is influenced and shaped by societal factors. Despite a great deal of research on the social causation of health, however, the potentially adverse effects of social structures have been rarely studied. If people's health is linked to broader social conditions, then it follows that health is also subject to societal disruption, especially in the wake of the breakdown or failure of the existing social structure. This dissertation advances our understanding of the relationship between the social structure and health at the population level, focusing on post-communist Eastern Europe as a case study. There are three interrelated goals in this dissertation: first, to elucidate differences in health and mortality outcomes between East Central Europe and the former Soviet Union; second, to numerically substantiate the association between drastic social change and the risk of death due to suicide; and third, to reveal the structural factors related to overall population health status in Eastern Europe. Using aggregate-level data for Eastern European countries for the post-communist period, I find that (1) there are growing inequalities in life expectancy and infant mortality between East Central Europe and the former Soviet Union, and mechanisms associated with disparities vary by gender and age; (2) consistent with Durkheim's theory of suicide, drastic structural change is related to increased suicide death rates for the period immediately after the collapse of communism; and (3) the malfunctioning of the social structure is inversely associated with the health status of populations. Taken together, fully understanding the health consequences of communism's fall in Eastern Europe requires research that looks beyond individual-level risk factors to incorporate the broader characteristics of the social structure in which populations are embedded. / text

Social work struggles between the dichotomy of “individual” and “society” as it is characterized as enhancing both individual well-being and social justice. As these are not always easily balanced and social work has limited autonomy, social workers must develop their capacity for making moral judgments and defend these within their various roles and responsibilities. Studies which explore the role of ethics in social work practice enhance the potential for maintaining a common identity. This exploration permits a deeper understanding of social work ethics and reinforces a common framework inclusive of purpose and standards for the profession. These studies also capture the contextual factors impacting on the moral agency of social workers, and thus substantiate the role for social work in a world with structured oppression. The purpose of this study was to obtain an in-depth understanding of social work ethics in the practice context of public hospitals in Greece. Using a case study design, data was gathered to explore and understand the role of social work ethics in daily practice and the formation of what is perceived as “good” practice. The analysis followed Yin‟s (1993) descriptive strategy. Data collection included fifteen in-depth interviews with hospital social workers, a group interview with social work academics, and a thematic analysis of the social work journal of the Hellenic Association of Social Workers (HASW). The meaning of ethical dilemmas and problems appeared to be constructed by personally held values, a lack of attention in social work education and the HASW on social work ethics, a professional emphasis on individualism rather than collectivism, and insufficient social protection in Greece. Importantly, these factors led to a fairly consistent response to ethical problems. “Having a clear conscience”, character traits such as bravery and imaginativeness, as well as the use of psychotherapy emerged as characteristics of “good” social work practice. These findings are of value to those who try to restore the values and ethics as central in social work. Values and ethics as key elements of social work expertise can lead social workers to a more competent and effective practice in terms of their ethical engagements.

The aim of the study is to draw attention to the need for a housing design policy forming part of a comprehensive approach to the totality of production and with an understanding that the production activities of an individual or a society are the principal activities for its existence and development. An additional purpose is to define the necessary conditions for this change in production and to propose a process wherein dialectics will be in inherent part. For this purpose the study approaches the problem from the characteristic features of the physical environment production of a particular section of the community - namely the urban squatters - and establishes the relations between these characteristics with those of production as a whole. This totality - i.e. production as a whole also shows variations from one locality, one community to another and should be considered as feudal or capitalistic, as rural or urban, and as agricultural or industrial. Since these categories are not all exclusive a further conceptualization also becomes necessary. This we find in the concept of mode of production which embodies all variations according to the state of the productive forces and the nature of prevailing social relations which are derived from the production of the society. In other words the products of a society and their production process with its impact on the society are evaluated within a total which is defined as the mode of production of a society. This is done in three parts: in the first a particular case of physical environment production is analyzed. This is the squatter housing areas of Turkey which, although the intention, here, is not to provide a detailed review of squatter housing in all parts of the world, can also be found in the other under developed countries. First these areas are defined by their quantitative and qualitative characteristics characteristics, then they are defined as distinct from slums or rural settlements. Conclusions of this first part are based on the analyses of production relations, social organization and organization for physical environment production. In the second part the process of production is considered as a means for changing various social relations. Firstly the nature of these relations is discussed as an aspect of production in rural and urban societies. Secondly the nature of means in rural and urban contexts is defined with regard to material and conceptual tools of production, and finally the place of production of the environment within the totality of natural and human production processes is described. In the concluding part a summary of the characteristics discussed in the first two parts is followed by a summary of the requirements of a process of change. Then available means are studied as information and production processes, and a proposal is made in view of the afore discussed role of production. Here, one more factor is taken into consideration and it is that the process of production is also a dialectical process and the roles of dialectical relations, cause effect relations, quantity quality relations and contradictory relations should be regarded as the conditions to be satisfied by the proposed process. Finally the whole process is described by means of a model where the feedback and control mechanisms account for the requirements of cause effect and dialectical relations. Then the role of contradictory relations is further developed as a sub-process where the transition from one state to another could be materialized.

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This dissertation analyzes the creation of national parks in Mexico between 1934 and 1940 as a program of national unity and federal resource control on the heels of revolutionary upheaval. In radical new ways, national park formation marked a complementary relationship between revolutionary social change and the environment. The creation, administration, and defense of these parks symbolized larger processes reordering how regulatory legitimacy came about and what factors shaped policy implementation. The parks, mostly within one or two hours of Mexico City, protected temperate forests but overlapped with longstanding communities. While some scientists critiqued peasant forest use techniques, the inclusive politics of the revolutionary government and the vibrant opinions of residents prevented their eviction from these national spaces. By articulating visions of their patrimony and zealously debating their rights to national territory, peasants, scientists, industrialists, and bureaucrats transformed revolutionary reforms into conspicuous environmental policy. This purposeful inclusion allowed citizens to forge national identity with explicit attention to the natural world.To demonstrate the assertion that social change had an environmental component, I use four case studies of Lagunas de Zempoala, La Malinche, Popocatepetl and Iztacci­huatl, and Tepozteco National Parks. These examples demonstrate the similarities and differences among the parks and their particular social, political, economic, and cultural implications. Tourists to Zempoala, communal property holders in Malinche, resin collectors on Popo and Izta, and activists in Tepozteco remind us that environmental issues pervaded the life stories of thousands of people. Parks were not whimsical oases for wealthy urbanites--they became tangible representations of how revolutionaries nationalized their natural territory. Revolutionaries planned their agenda for change based on the endowments of nature, they envisioned overcoming differences through the wealth of their surroundings, and they configured a revolutionary state to oversee that process.My study engages Mexican historians who have failed to consider the environment as a crucial factor in the construction of the new regime and revises world histories that underestimated conservation efforts in lesser developed countries. Rather than a story of environmental declension, it provides fresh insight into the everyday working relationships among communities, governments, and their resources.

Note: / The history of I1Dst large organizations contains periods of turnoil and upheaval which called for, or resulted fram, attempts at steering the organization towards new directions and changing its fabric of goals, strategies, structures and values.[...] / L'histoire des grandes organisations contient presqu' invariablement des episodes de bouleversement et de crise. Ces periodes troubles exigent, ou parfois sont Ie resultat, des efforts pour imprinter a I lorganisa-:tion une nouvelle direction, pour en changer les buts, strategies, structures et valeurs.[...]

By 1994 education in South Africa had collapsed (TRC, 1998; CCOLT, 1996). In response, South Africa's first non-racial government initiated a wide ranging School Reform (SR) program. However, almost a decade after the reforms commenced there have been very few substantial changes in the majority of South African schools: The Education Rights Project (2003a) and the South African Human Rights Commission argue that SR is failing the majority of South Africans. This thesis explores an alternative, School-Community Development (SCD), that integrates school reforms with programs that draw members of the school's neighbouring community (the "school-community") into the process of changing schools. I argue that SR is an inadequate response to the problems that confront schools. Using the case study method I show that SR is enhanced when integrated with locally developed social, cultural, economic, and school development programs. The thesis makes two contributions to the literature. First, the thesis challenges the "simplistic solutions to educational problems" (Anyon, 1997, p. 12) that constitute SR. Second, the thesis presents a materially grounded critique of SR in South Africa that evokes the "multiple voices" (Sayed, 2002, p. 32) from the four case study schools. Accordingly, our understanding of "making change work at the micro level", a neglected area of South African educational research (Sayed and Jansen, 2001, p. 7), is enhanced.

Background The mindset of an individual is made up by perception and motivation. Motivation is in turn driven by personal experiences, values and goals. Many times, a personal experience can act as a ‘Gandhi-moment’ or a triggering event to take action towards achieving a specific outcome. For a social entrepreneur, this outcome is many times some type of positive social change. In order for the social entrepreneur to create this, he or she needs to be innovative and creative, and therefore stay open towards new opportunities and perspectives to not get stuck in a particular mindset. Purpose The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the role of personal experiences and a person’s mindset in the start-up of a social project. Furthermore, the study aims to explore how a change in one’s mindset can result in social projects or enterprises that are successfully able to create social change. Method The research approach of the thesis takes the form of a multiple case study; one main large case and four illustrative smaller ones. The data analysis is of abductive style, going back and forth between theory and empirical data. Conclusion It can be concluded that personal experiences can serve as a motivational platform for an individual starting a project or enterprise, aiming to create a social change. However, other elements of a person’s mindset will also influence this process, in terms motivation and perception. Furthermore, for changes in society to occur, changes first needs to be made from within. Therefore, in order for a social entrepreneur to create actual social change; he or she needs to go through a process of mindset-change.

“Christian leadership” is not new terminology in world literature, but research on Christian Congolese refugee leadership in Durban seems to bring out a new dimension to it. In their struggle to reach a meaningful standard of life, refugee Christian leaders in Durban are experiencing rough and traumatic times. This research investigated how they deal with social change for both their lives and that of their mixed congregations in Durban.. This research applied leadership theories and servant-hood models to Christian leadership principles. Personal experience of life was used to describe and identify factors that have helped positively and hindered negatively the promotion of such changes. The study aimed to reveal the traumatic responses and experiences of refugees as a consequence of political and civil conflicts in their country of origin. Factors that have helped overcome barriers to their social change will also be identified. The research also challenged the negative malpractices and attitudes displayed towards the refugees by some people in the host country. This study focused on people’s lives and their deep heartfelt needs drawing on a sample of mature leaders and church members capable of implementing change despite circumstances that surround them. A qualitative approach with ethnography as the dominant methodology was employed. Open-ended questions were used in interviews to gather data relative to social change. Based on qualitative and ethnographic findings, this research revealed that despite acculturation, psychological stress, discrimination, and social exclusion in their day-to-day lives, Congolese Christian leaders are able to generate positive social change. The findings will help in future research, while for now Congolese Christian refugees will benefit from acquiring knowledge and principles that will hopefully help them improve their leadership qualities to become future useful leaders who will give the world the best of their expertise. However, in a world that is changing at an exponential rate, there can be no social certainty. While Congolese Christian leaders in Durban define their priorities and address future problems in order to integrate themselves into the local community, it is believed that the experience they gain in this country will contribute in improving their social lives, enhance their future leadership skills for the benefit of their present community for now and in future for the benefit of their country of origin as well as the whole African continent / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.