Most sociological analyses of community attachment have focused on the strength of attachment, with little concern for the qualities or attributes of a place to which people become attached. In cases where dimensions of attachment are the focus of analysis, the literature is rather narrowly focused on social dimensions, re ferring most often to connections with family, friends, and other social networks and largely ignoring the realm of natural environment factors. Two primary premises motivated this study. Fi rst, sociological understandi ngs of community attachment wou ld benefit from an expanded analytic framework that incorporates more complex arrays of both social and natural environment dimensions. Second, it is important to understand what variations in attachment may mean for the broader well-being of rural communities. Initial analyses of the data demonstrated four key results. First, factor analysis of fi fleen indicators of attachment produced two distinct dimensions of community attachment, social and natural environment. Second, the nature of the response patterns indicates that strength of natural environment attachment is widely shared amongst a variety of res idents, regardless of length of residence, historical roots to the area, or life cycle. Third, participation in collective action and perceptions of open communication (measures of well-being) within a respondent's community explained only a small portion of the variance in both social and natural environment attachment. Fourth, Structural Equation Modeling demonstrated that there is a causal relationship between attachment and community well-being, though that relationship appeared to be non-recursive. In contrast to much of the previous empirical work on community attachment, this research provides strong evidence of the natural environment dimension and provides justification for further research. This research provides one model to be considered and expanded upon in future research efforts in this area, and supports the need for further attention to the use of multiple dimensions of attachment and their associations with community well-being.

Esta tese pretende acompanhar o desenvolvimento da relação entre arte e utopia na obra de Herbert Marcuse. Para tanto, é necessário entender como o autor desenvolve a relação entre sensibilidade e transformação social nos seus escritos estéticos-políticos. É igualmente importante dialogar com autores tradicionais e contemporâneos da filosofia, como Schiller, Mannheim, Bloch e o círculo da teoria crítica da qual Marcuse fez parte. Partindo da ideia de que Marcuse não trata o tema da utopia de forma homogênea em toda sua obra, mas que esta está sempre relacionada com o papel da arte de negação do status quo, e tendo como base a realidade histórica em que seus textos foram escritos, são discutidas as contribuições e limitações da teoria estética marcuseana para o debate filosófico contemporâneo e a possibilidade de denominá-la utópica. Marcuse, como crítico do Marxismo ortodoxo, retoma propostas debatidas por socialistas utópicos como Fourier e, assim como Bloch, é responsável por resgatar a importância da questão da sensibilidade no discurso socialista. Trazer o debate da sensibilidade para o discurso político é um dos grandes legados de Marcuse. / This thesis intends to follow the development of the relationship between art and utopia in the work of Herbert Marcuse. Therefore, it is necessary to understand how the author develops the relationship between sensibility and social change in his aesthetic-political writings. It is also important to dialogue with the traditional and contemporary authors of the philosophy, such as Schiller, Mannheim, Bloch and the circle of critical theory of which Marcuse was a part. Considering that Marcuse does not treat the theme of utopia in a consistent manner across his work, but that it is always related to the role of art of negating the status quo, and based on the historical context in which his texts were written, the contributions and limitations of the marcusean aesthetic theory to the contemporary philosophical debate are discussed, as well as the possibility of calling it utopian. Marcuse, as a critic of orthodox Marxism, revisits proposals debated by utopian socialists such as Fourier and, like Bloch, he is responsible for recovering the importance of the issue of sensibility in the socialist discourse. Bringing the debate of sensibility into the political discourse is one of Marcuse\'s great legacies.

Towards a mature shame culture seeks to identify new tools for social change through a deeper understanding of the social psychology of shame and guilt. The study takes as its starting point a suggestion by Richard Hauser and Hephzibah Menhuin-Hauser that many personal and social crises can be interpreted through the lens of a late 20th Century transition from a guilt culture to an 'infantile' shame culture. Implicit in this is the need to develop more socially mature forms.This idea is placed in the context of praxis for personal/social growth drawing on previously unpublished material from the Hauser's archive. The study then explores a theoretical framework for understanding the social psychology of emotions in general, and shame in particular. It draws on affect psychology, micro-sociology and social attachment theory. Shame is located primarily as a social emotion, with a normative function of monitoring social bonds between people - rather than, as it is usually framed, as a 'self-conscious', 'negative' and 'pathological'emotion. This reframing of the experience highlights the 'salutogenic' function of shame in building and strengthening relationships. In this frame much of what is commonly thought of as 'shame' can be seen to be the result of unacknowledged shame, where other emotions are bound to the sense of shame and carried as 'toxic' memories of unresolved shame experiences. This pattern of unresolved shame can be seen at the root of the personal and social pathologies of violence and alienation.The study charts how attempts to communicate this salutogenic perspective on shame led to an experiential education workshop Working with shame. It draws on the experience of participants in this workshop in a variety of settings (including anger management programs, workshops at men's gatherings, and community professional development training, and other group work). Interview data is used to illustrate how the masking of the physiological expression of shame, principally with anger and/or fear, interrupts the affective/emotional signals between people that would normally result in empathic responses an salutogenic outcomes. Finally, the study explores how this perspective on shame might inform social crisis-intervention programs at community level; and how it might be applied to the larger, and longer-term challenge of bringing about cultural change. It suggests key features that mark the transition from 'infantile' to 'juvenile' forms of shame and some of the factors limiting further growth towards shame-maturity. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis examines the outcomes associated with women’s participation in development scholarship schemes. These schemes, which provide citizens from Third World countries with opportunities to undertake tertiary training abroad, have featured prominently within the development assistance programmes of many Western nations. However, the longer-term impact of this type of educational experience on the lives and communities of individuals who take up this form of aid remains under-studied. This is particularly the case for female development scholars, who have been both historically excluded from opportunities to take part in these schemes, as well as marginalised within academic evaluations of their outcomes. This research provides an in-depth qualitative exploration of the experiences of twenty women who have completed a tertiary qualification through a development scholarship scheme. The participant sample is diverse, and includes a group of New Zealand-based female doctoral students who have participated in several of these programmes, as well as two groups of women from Thailand who have returned home after taking part in a scholarship scheme funded by the New Zealand Agency for International Development. This research identifies a number of positive and negative outcomes for women associated with this distinct type of educational experience. Beneficial outcomes include greater emotional autonomy, increased cross-cultural knowledge, new professional networks, new work skills, and improved English-language competency. Participants within this research report that these benefits have translated into increased respect within their workplaces; new opportunities to represent their organisations at home and abroad; greater participation in international research and policy forums; increased control over negotiations with foreign consultants; and an enhanced commitment to collaboration with other professionals in the ASEAN region. Negative outcomes to arise out of the scholarship experience include role tension and relationship conflict for married women; career disruption associated with employment bonding and job restructuring during the period of absence abroad; new unwanted work responsibilities; and dissatisfaction with some aspects of quality of life in their country of origin. This thesis provides rich narrative material that increases our understanding of the concrete ways that this form of educational aid is ‘lived out’ in the lives and communities of female development scholars.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis is an enquiry into the social and political role, in Australia, of practices that have attracted such labels as ‘community arts’, ‘cultural animation’, ‘cultural action’, or ‘community cultural development’ (CCD). It is often argued that such practices offer an effective means to bring about social and political change for people and communities who participate in them. Looking specifically at theatre-based approaches to CCD in Australia, this thesis examines an alternative hypothesis, namely that such projects and programs can contribute to the continued marginalisation of those who take part in them. Using a combination of Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical approach to field analysis, Don Handelman’s analytical framework of special events and Baz Kershaw’s theory of potential efficacy, I carry out an ethnographic and performance-based analysis of a particular project called The Longest Night (TLN), which was devised in collaboration with young people from The Parks, a cluster of suburbs north west of Adelaide, South Australia, and in collaboration between Urban Theatre Projects, a small Sydney-based theatre company with a reputation for doing socially and politically challenging work, young people living in The Parks and local partner organisations, for the 2002 Adelaide Festival. I find that in some instances participation in CCD projects and programs is an enabling factor, creating change opportunities in cultural, economic and/or political spheres in the lives of those who take part, whilst at other times it is a constraining factor. Participation in CCD projects and programs creates possibilities because the practices are potentially subversive and foster elements of learning and change in some participants. It also creates limitations because CCD practitioners operate within a subfield of social and cultural practices where the mechanisms and structures in place, indirectly, tend to help reproduce legitimised social and cultural values and norms.

<p>Syftet med studien var att observera hur förskolebarn kommunicerar och samspelar vid datorn, både verbalt och icke-verbalt. Syftet var även att belysa pedagogers uppfattningar om barns kommunikation och samspel och hur de organiserar datoranvändandet i verksamheten.</p><p>Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär där videoobservationer och intervjuer användes. Totalt observerades 7 barn i 4-5 års ålder och 4 pedagoger intervjuades.</p><p>Resultatet visade att barnen kommunicerade på olika sätt, detta delades in i 6 skilda kategorier: kommunikation om planering, emotionell kommunikation, icke-datorrelaterad kommunikation, kommunikation med spelets auditiva funktioner, kommunikation med datorn som person och kommunikation om spelet. Som mest höll sig kommunikationen om spelet som barnen spelade. Kroppsspråket bestod till störst del av gester i form av pekningar och vi märkte att gesterna hjälpte till där språket fattades. På båda förskolorna användes datorn i den fria leken till att spela på. Pedagogernas roll i barns spelande var passiv, de hjälpte till om barnen bad om hjälp eller när problem uppstod. Pedagogerna som intervjuades uttryckte att samspelet var positivt och att varken ålder eller kön spelade någon roll men däremot barnens språk- och kunskapsutveckling.</p><p>Olika faktorer som vi upplever spelar roll i barnens kommunikation och samspel är val av spel/program, kunskaps-/utvecklingsnivån hos barnet, miljön och den vuxnes delaktighet.</p>

<p>The local newspapers in Sweden are often used as an arena where groups of different political leanings try to frame current events to suit their purposes. Therefore how the news media presents the discussed issue and how it relates to sustainable development are important for a democratic process. One of the largest infrastructural projects in Sweden currently is the Eastern Link and there are many economical, social and ecological concerns when constructing such a large infrastructural project. It is therefore important to look at how sustainable development is represented in the local news media when concerning this infrastructural project. The aim of this thesis is to study how the local media presents the Eastern Link project in relation to sustainable development and how it affects democracy. This thesis critically discusses the different parts of sustainable development; the impact of and on economical issues, social issues and ecological issues in relation to the study material. Both a quantitative approach and a qualitative approach are used as a method. The thesis also links the results of this study to previous research on communication and theories on sustainable development. The results show that neither of the newspapers Folkbladet or NT is presenting the Eastern Link in a balanced way from a sustainability perspective. A majority of the articles are focusing on the social discourse; this differs from previous research where the focus is on the economical discourse.</p>

<p>Global Civil Society is a spectrum of diverse social actors, which offers an alternative to the making of contemporary politics, and towards social change; it provides us with a new approach to change the existing global order through development rather than confrontation. For this reason, global civil society has recently attracted increased interest in the academic and political discourse and consequently has left the margins and is placed in the centre of contemporary International Relations and political theory.</p><p>Utilizing neo-Gramscian ideas this study examines global civil society’s concept and core features and focuses on its role as well as transformative possibilities as an agent in contemporary world politics. This thesis demonstrates through the findings of our</p><p>case study on "Civil Society Organisations" Response to the Fourth European Union – Latin America and the Caribbean Summit in Vienna 2006” the alternative approach in dealing with political issues and actively working towards those ends.</p><p>This research’s conclusions designate the great potentialities of civil society’s organizations, if carefully managed to transform the contemporary world; as well as the necessity of addressing global civil society in order to understand the role of the social realm in reducing the gap of legitimacy in the contemporary world order.</p>

<p>Nanotechnology plays an important role in today’s society because it allows convergence to the nanoscale, that is to say to the level of atoms and molecules, as part of a miniaturization trend; and also because it is being used for improving human performance or enhancement. Nanotechnology will have a tremendous impact thanks to its potentialities, and the human desire for enhancement - and for some even the desire to reach a posthuman stage. Since nanotechnology-based human applications – cyborgs and implants – might represent a threat to what defines us as humans, namely our human nature, a different approach on the distinction between therapy and enhancement is needed in order to handle those applications in a wiser and more responsible way. This thesis will work on such approach.</p>

<p>This paper concerns the changes in attitudes towards the use of force within the South African police force after democratisation. The paper debates the current approaches towards the analysis of violence and a new theory on community and conflict management is developed. This new theory aims to provide a new framework for analysing the use of violence. The theory is then applied on a fieldwork conducted at a local police station in Cape Town, South Africa.</p>