This thesis is concerned with both the dangers and opportunities of China’s relations with the contemporary world and with the U.S.-led West in particular. It takes an unconventional approach to these issues in critically examining mainstream Western studies of Chinese foreign policy as a particular kind of discourse. The thesis focuses, more specifically, on the two dominant Western perspectives on China, (neo)realism and (neo)-liberalism. In doing so, it engages the questions of how Western discursive practice has come to shape and dominate the ways we think of and deal with ‘China’ in international relations, and how, as a result, China has often come to formulate its foreign policy in line with the prescribed meaning given to it by Western-based China scholars. In this context, the thesis argues that to deconstruct the processes by which China is given particular ‘meanings’ by Western discourses—and by which those meanings are transformed into both Western and Chinese foreign policy—is the key to a more profound understanding of Sino-Western relations and, perhaps, a first step towards ameliorating its problems and realising its potential for long-term peace and mutual prosperity.

<p>This thesis has been written within the research project “Tillfälligt Uppbrott”, which concerns youths who have run away or been thrown out of their homes. The project is based on a na-tional poll among more than 3000 high school students. Our purpose has been to study youths who have left home and their own experiences. We have looked at all the question-naires in which the youths stated they had left home and focused on their answers to five open questions. The answers have been categorized in themes and the results have been put up against a certain amount of background variables. The concentration is foremost qualitative but there are also features of quantitive data. In our analysis we have used the new sociology of childhood which is based on social constructionism. In our result we have learned what the youths see as the reasons for the breakups, what they missed, how they provided for them-selves and what happened to them during the time away from home, as well as gotten exam-ples on how the experience affected them, both positively and negatively.</p>

<p>This study is based on interviews with six students from Stockholm that have shared their feelings/opinions about how they experience their identity as a student. The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine how the identity of students is constructed but also how the post modern society affects the life that the students are living. With a higher demand on education and responsibility of making the right decisions, the student’s main concern is not only her studies, but also the goal to succeed in her life. The result points out that the environment which the student lives in has an influence on how the identity develops. The identity has nothing to do with the actually fact that the student studies, but with how the student acts outside the university.</p>

<p>Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka kvinnors upplevelser av att få en AD/HD diagnos i vuxen ålder och vilka sociala konsekvenser det ger. Då många studier inriktar sig på AD/HD ur ett neuropsykiatriskt perspektiv, anser vi det intressant att i stället ha ett socialt fokus. Den teori vi huvudsakligen använder oss av är social konstruktionism då vi tycker den är relevant i detta sammanhang. Vi undersöker i studien om, och i så fall hur kvinnorna upplever att diagnosen har förändrat deras vardag, bemötandet från myndigheter och arbetskamrater, självkänsla/självuppfattning och relationen till vänner och nära anhöriga. För att göra detta möjligt formulerade vi fyra frågeställningar som passade studiens syfte. I studien använde vi oss av kvalitativa forskningsintervjuer med fyra kvinnor, detta för att få fram deras upplevelser på bästa sätt. Det resultat vi funnit visar att diagnosen haft stor betydelse för kvinnorna i den meningen att den gjort dem mer medvetna om sina brister och som en frigörande förklaring på sin känsla av att vara annorlunda. För att kunna analysera texten använde vi oss av de teman som formades utifrån frågeställningarna för att kunna hitta mönster i kvinnornas berättelser. Därefter tolkade vi materialet med hjälp av tidigare forskning och relevanta teorier. Den slutsats vi kommit fram till är att diagnosen stärker kvinnornas självkänsla/självuppfattning vilket gör att de kan hantera sina liv och sin vardag på ett bättre sätt, men också att diagnosen i sig inte förändrar de faktiska bristerna i någon större utsträckning.</p> / <p>The aim of our studie is to examine womens experiences of recieving a diagnosis of AD/HD as an adult and what social consequences this brings. As many studies focus on AD/HD from a neuropsychiatric perspective, we regard it interesting to look at it from a social perspective rather then psychiatric. The theory we mainly used is social constructionism as we think it relevant in this coherece. In the study we examine if and in that case how these women feel that the diagnosis has changed there everyday life, treatment by authority and colleagues, self-esteem/self-perception and relation to friends and close relatives. To make this possible we worded four questions at issue that was suitable for the purpose of the study. In the study we used qualitative research interviews whit four women, this as to bring forward there experiences in the best possible way. The result we found show that diagnosis has had great importance for the women as it has made them more aware of there scarcity and as a liberating explanation of there feeling of being different. To be able to analyze the text we used the theme as shaped from the questions to be able to find a pattern in the womens story. We then interpreted the material with the help of prior and relevant theories. Our conclusion is that the diagnosis strengthens the womens self-esteem/self-perception which means that they can handle there everyday life in a better way, but also that the diagnosis in it self does not change the real lack in extent any greater.</p>

The overall aim of this thesis is to describe and analyse the age-related life experiences of elderly retired people and in relation to this to problematise ageism as an analytical concept in order to present a more dynamic understanding of the phenomenon of ageism in everyday life. Related to the overall objective three overarching research questions are addressed. How do elderly individuals relate to “age” in life and how do they express this in contexts in which standpoints are made in relation to age-codes? What can be generally said to represent the foundation of elderly people’s experiences of ageism? What all-embracing picture of ageism and age-coding is made visible when the phenomenon is examined using different kinds of methods for collecting and analysing empirical material? Research within the field of ageism is presented in terms of how it has been examined: as an ideology, as an “ideology” that is possible to deconstruct and as manifestations in everyday life. The hegemonic way of defining ageism is to associate it with prejudice, stereotyping and discriminationbased on age. This is viewed to be insufficient in order to understand ageism in everyday life. The positioning of the thesis in relation to the research field is therefore seen as problematising ageism as an analytical concept. The thesis consists of three different studies that are based on three different empirical materials. Life-stories, a questionnaire and focus group interviews are used to collect empirical material on the subject of elderly people’s age-related life experiences. The empirical materials and the studies connected to them are distinct ways of investigating ageism. Tentatively, methodtriangulation is applied in order to analyse the topic of ageism in everyday life from differenttheoretical perspectives. The most important conclusion is that ageism can be understood more dynamically as a practise that is exceptionally close to us individuals in everyday life. It is suggested that ageism is not only associated to age. Informants use alternative age-markers or time-markers in relation to which theyascribe meaning. When individuals tell their life-story the experiences are for example not tied to age. Age is hardly ever mentioned. In its place meaning is constructed around and ascribed to timemarkers such as for example “young”, “old”, “year”, “month”, “elderly” and so on. The use of and ascription of meaning to time-markers is also applicable in the other studies in the thesis. These alternative time-markers are suggested as something that also indicate ageism. Experiences and meaning are not solely focused on age. However, the meaning constructed in relation to the alternative markers is not unanimous, even if it sometimes appears to be. The experienced meaning takes many different forms and can by no means be fixated once and for all. An important conclusion is also that we cannot disregard gender in the understanding of ageism. It seems imperative to practice intersectional reasoning in order to understand the dynamics of ageism. Gendered ageism or gendered time-coding is essential in comprehending what people experience in everyday life.

This thesis has been written within the research project “Tillfälligt Uppbrott”, which concerns youths who have run away or been thrown out of their homes. The project is based on a na-tional poll among more than 3000 high school students. Our purpose has been to study youths who have left home and their own experiences. We have looked at all the question-naires in which the youths stated they had left home and focused on their answers to five open questions. The answers have been categorized in themes and the results have been put up against a certain amount of background variables. The concentration is foremost qualitative but there are also features of quantitive data. In our analysis we have used the new sociology of childhood which is based on social constructionism. In our result we have learned what the youths see as the reasons for the breakups, what they missed, how they provided for them-selves and what happened to them during the time away from home, as well as gotten exam-ples on how the experience affected them, both positively and negatively.

The intention of this work is to explore how Aboriginal learners are produced in the Saskatchewan Adult Basic Education (ABE) curriculum. In addition, this study examines the production of instructor identities in the curriculum. This thesis explores the social and historical contexts influencing the production of the ABE curriculum. Current prevailing discourses about Aboriginal people influence the curriculum documents. These discourses construct a grand narrative about Aboriginal people, producing Aboriginal people in particular ways that become acceptable and legitimate ways of thinking about and behaving toward Aboriginal people. This work examines how such a grand narrative functions to uphold dominance and structural inequalities rather than challenge them. The effect of reinforcing the current, particular grand narrative about Aboriginal people is that, rather than challenge dominant ideologies, the new curriculum re-inscribes them. This work employs the methodology of discourse analysis as a means of examining the production of particular identities for Aboriginal learners in ABE and uses deconstruction to explore the ways that the documents betray themselves in relation to their objectives. This thesis provides analysis of the ways that the curriculum documents produce and reproduce Aboriginal people as deficient and requiring change. This work provides analysis of the conflict within the documents between a desire to challenge dominance and the re-inscription of dominance through discursive practices. In addition, this work demonstrates how the ABE curriculum aids in the production of dominant instructor identities, and how such dominant identities assist instructors to define themselves as innocent and helpful. This analysis of the ABE curriculum reveals that while the curriculum aspires to be a proponent of social justice for Aboriginal learners it has many weaknesses in this regard. This work concludes with recommendations for changes to the curriculum and instructor practices, and for further critical analysis.

ADHD är idag ett av de mest studerade medicinska tillstånden och den snabbast växande diagnosen. Medicin som behandling av ADHD har liksom diagnostiseringen de senaste åren ökat markant, trots att det inte finns studier gjorda som kan visa på medicinens långsiktiga beroendeframkallande effekt. Det finns en tydlig oenighet i hur ADHD uppkommer och hur kriterierna för att ställa diagnosen bör vara utformade. Syftet med denna forskningsöversikt är att undersöka kunskapsläget kring fenomenet ADHD och dess behandling. För att begränsa vår studie har vi valt att fokusera på den del av kunskapsläget vars fokus ligger på behandling och utifrån relevanta studier undersöker vi sedan vilka ontologiska perspektiv på ADHD som går att urskilja. Utöver detta vill vi utforska hur studierna resonerar kring olika behandlingsmetoder och vad dessa kan innebära för både barnet och omgivningen. Litteraturöversikten baseras på 13 granskade studier som vi ansåg kunde svara upp mot våra frågeställningar och innehöll generaliserande kunskap. I resultatet framkommer tre olika orsaksförklaringar till ADHD; biologiskt, psykosocialt och transaktionellt perspektiv. Merparten av studierna, oavsett synsätt, poängterar omgivningens betydelse för hur symptom för ADHD utvecklas och kommer till uttryck. Den behandlingsform som i studierna framkommer som vanligast var medicinering, andra behandlingsformer som förespråkas var beteendeinriktad behandling samt föräldrastöd. / ADHD is one of the most frequently studied medical conditions of today and also the fastest growing diagnosis. Despite the fact that there are no longitudinal studies that can prove that the medicine cannot lead to an addiction in adulthood, medical treatment increases for those who are diagnosed with ADHD. However, there are disagreements on how to define and establish ADHD. Consequently the criteria for diagnosing this kind of disability are vague. The purpose of this essay is to investigate the knowledge concerning ADHD and its treatment. To limit the purpose this investigation will solely treat the knowledge regarding the treatment, and from without relevant studies review which ontological perspectives could be distinguished. Moreover, a research on how relevant studies reason concerning methods of treatment and their effects – both for the child and its environment. Thirteen different studies have been reviewed in this essay. These articles could answer to the questions formulated in this essay, and also contained generalizing knowledge. The main conclusion of this investigation is that there exist three different ontological ideas of ADHD; biological, psychosocial and transactional. A majority of the studies, regardless of ontological idea, emphasizes the importance of the social environment in how symptoms for ADHD is developed and manifests themselves. Treatment through medication is the most common one according to these studies. Other recommended treatments are treatment with focus on behavior and support for parents.

Definitions of sexual orientation are reflections of theoretical positions within the essentialist versus social constructionist debate. A cognitive sociological approach to analyzing the positions within this debate allows theorists and researchers to be aware of three distinct theoretical positions or thought communities: natural kinds thought community, social kinds thought community, and empty kinds thought community. Standard content analysis and grounded theory methods are used to analyze the principles, strategies, and practices each thought community uses to mark group membership into various sexual categories. The analysis reveals that each theoretical perspective is marking group membership differently.

The intention of this work is to explore how Aboriginal learners are produced in the Saskatchewan Adult Basic Education (ABE) curriculum. In addition, this study examines the production of instructor identities in the curriculum. This thesis explores the social and historical contexts influencing the production of the ABE curriculum. Current prevailing discourses about Aboriginal people influence the curriculum documents. These discourses construct a grand narrative about Aboriginal people, producing Aboriginal people in particular ways that become acceptable and legitimate ways of thinking about and behaving toward Aboriginal people. This work examines how such a grand narrative functions to uphold dominance and structural inequalities rather than challenge them. The effect of reinforcing the current, particular grand narrative about Aboriginal people is that, rather than challenge dominant ideologies, the new curriculum re-inscribes them. This work employs the methodology of discourse analysis as a means of examining the production of particular identities for Aboriginal learners in ABE and uses deconstruction to explore the ways that the documents betray themselves in relation to their objectives. This thesis provides analysis of the ways that the curriculum documents produce and reproduce Aboriginal people as deficient and requiring change. This work provides analysis of the conflict within the documents between a desire to challenge dominance and the re-inscription of dominance through discursive practices. In addition, this work demonstrates how the ABE curriculum aids in the production of dominant instructor identities, and how such dominant identities assist instructors to define themselves as innocent and helpful. This analysis of the ABE curriculum reveals that while the curriculum aspires to be a proponent of social justice for Aboriginal learners it has many weaknesses in this regard. This work concludes with recommendations for changes to the curriculum and instructor practices, and for further critical analysis.