This study deals with the topic of social class and mortality. In particular, the analyses are concentrated on the question of how social differences developed in an era which was characterised by industrialisation, urbanisation and sanitary improvements. This work also discusses how the problems of social class and health were dealt with in the nineteenth Century. The development of medicai care and public health are especially studied. The development of mortality in different social classes is analysed on micro level in the town of Sundsvall during the 19th century, for which the parish registers for the period 1803-1894 have been transferred on to data. This town became the centre of an expansive saw mill area from the middle of the Century. In contrast to the view of contemporary witnesses, inequality seems to have been fairly small in some age groups, but the pattems diverged between them. Mortality among adults was largely dependent on cultural variables such as life style and attitudes, and social differences played a minor role. Men had much higher mortality than women. The development does not seem to have been primarily affected by industrialisation, urbanisation or sanitary improvements. For children 1-14 years old, on the other hand, conditions created by industrialisation and urbanisation seem to have been of the utmost importance. Child mortality increased from 1860, affecting first of all working class children. Overcrowding increased the spread of infectious diseases. Sanitary improvements may have had an effect on the mortality level from around 1880, but more definitely in the 1890's. The same is also the case regarding infant mortality. They may have had some impact on the initial decline in infant mortality, but the connection appears to be stronger in the 1890's. The social inequality in infant mortality was insignificant until late 19th centuiy, but increased at that time. Among infants, feeding practises were also of importance. / digitalisering@umu

Syftet med vår studie var att se hur Sverigedemokraterna genom sitt principprogram konstruerar svenskhet och på så vis skapar en gräns mellan ”oss och de andra”. Metoden för vår studie har varit en kvalitativ text- och diskursanalys. Vårt resultat visar att texten i programmet påverkar och konstruerar sociala kategorier som är avgörande för människors sociala positioner och tillgång till resurser. Partiets konstruktion av svenskhet bygger på en social och nationell likhet som skapar social ojämlikhet. Resultatet visar även att det är viktigt att kritiskt granska texter som används av vår samhälleliga elit eftersom de i egenskap av sin maktposition har ett tolkningsföreträde. / The purpose of this study was to investigate how Sverigedemokraterna, in their program of principles, design Swedishness and as an effect of this creates a boundary between “us and them”. Our method of choice has been text- and discourse analysis. By analyzing the text in the program we’ve come to the conclusion that it has an effect on, and helps to create social categories that are crucial to people’s social positions and resource possibilities. The party builds their version of Swedishness on a social and national likeness that creates social inequality. Our results also shows that it’s important to examine texts used by the elite of society since they in their powerful position has a preferential right of interpretation.

<p>Social capital has so far been suggested to enhance the career outcomes of disadvantaged immigrants by compensating for their lack of human capital. Contrastingly, by examining labor market outcomes by immigrant groups, my dissertation argues that social capital can actually serve as a source of disadvantages for immigrants in the labor market, especially for a socially disadvantaged immigrant group like Mexican immigrants. Specifically, the dissertation proposes three kinds of social capital processes through which social status and network processes interplay to disadvantage disproportionately a low-status immigrant group in the job attainment process: access, activation, and return deficit of social capital. Using data from the 2005 U.S. Social Capital-USA survey, I examine these three kinds of social capital deficit across three ethnic immigrant groups: Mexican, non-Mexican Hispanic, and non-Hispanic immigrants. The first chapter explores the inequality of social capital across immigrant groups. The result shows that among the three immigrant groups, Mexican immigrants are the only immigrant group who have smaller, less diverse networks than the native-born. This access deficit of social capital for Mexican immigrants is driven primarily by their relative lack of human capital compared with other immigrant groups. The second chapter investigates whether ethnic enclaves constrain the access to social capital of enclave immigrants. The result shows that the constraining effect of ethnic enclaves on the social capital building of enclave immigrants is found only for the ethnic enclave of Mexican immigrants. This is because the ethnic enclaves of disadvantaged immigrants facilitate social connections to other coethnic enclave immigrants with similar socioeconomic traits, while constraining them from extending their networks beyond the enclaves. The access deficit of social capital for Mexican immigrants will eventually aggravate their job prospects because they cannot mobilize social capital for their job finding as much as other immigrant groups do. The third chapter examines the activation and mobilization of social capital in the job attainment process across immigrant groups. The result shows that Mexican immigrants activate and reap the benefit from mobilizing social capital for their job finding in ways that are different from those of the native-born as well as the high-status immigrant group. Due to their access deficit of social capital and negative stereotypes about them, Mexican immigrants are obliged to use a less rewarding job search method (i.e., using information passed from job contacts) rather than use a more rewarding job search method (i.e., using invitations from job contacts). Although Mexican immigrants benefit to some degrees from using information passed from job contacts in getting low-tier occupations, their heavy reliance on such a job search method can also prevent them from attaining middle- or top-tier occupations. By illuminating these serial processes of social capital in the job attainment for disadvantaged immigrants, my dissertation, therefore, sheds light on a new role of social capital as a source of immigrant disadvantages in the labor market.</p> / Dissertation

Conducting representative surveys of older people is challenging. This thesis aims to analyze a) the characteristics of individuals at risk of being underrepresented in surveys of older people, b) the systematic errors likely to occur as a result of these selections, and c) whether these systematic errors can be minimized by weighting adjustments.   In Study I, we investigated a) who would be missing from a survey that excluded those living in institutions and that did not use indirect interviews, b) how prevalence rates would be affected by these exclusions, and c) whether post-stratifying the data by sex and age (weighting adjustment) would correct for any systematic measurement error. In Study II, we compared mortality and hospitalization rates in those who responded to a postal questionnaire with rates in the target population. In addition, we tested whether a weighting variable created with a number of auxiliary variables could correct for the differences.   In Study III, we followed a longitudinal cohort sample for 43 years. By recalculating baseline characteristics at each follow-up, we investigated how the sample changed after a) selective mortality and b) survey non-participation. In Study IV, we investigated whether the systematic non-participation that is likely to occur in surveys of older people affects the association between education and health. In sum, the results of these four studies show that people in the oldest age groups, women, those of low socioeconomic position, and those with the poorest health tend to be underrepresented in surveys of older people. This systematic underrepresentation might lead to an underestimation of poor health and function, a bias that is unlikely to be corrected by weighting adjustments, and to an underestimation of health inequality between educational groups. The results also show that the selective mortality that occurs in longitudinal samples might be compounded by selective non-participation among the most disadvantaged groups. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 2: Manuscript.</p>

The distinctive household registration (hukou or huji) system of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) divides the population into two groups whose political rights and legal status are unequal. This thesis focuses on Shanghai to examine the establishment of the hukou system in the 1950s in the course of the rural and urban reforms led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Although the system has been explained as a result of the CCP’s industrialization strategy, my investigation has led me to conclude that the hukou system was an indirect rather than direct consequence of industrialization. My examination also shows that “rural” and “urban” in the PRC are essentially neither residential nor occupational categories; rather they are closely connected with political privileges. The first part of this study focuses on the consequences of the CCP’s land reform and collectivization campaigns after 1949. During this period, a large number of people who had moved freely between urban and rural areas, playing active roles in both, were uprooted from the countryside. At the same time, the CCP carried out a series of expulsions from Shanghai and other cities. Hundreds of thousands of urban residents, particularly those lacking secure employment, were removed after being labeled as “undesirable.” Thus CCP policies turned the cities and the countryside into two separate worlds. Next the dissertation outlines how the PRC state evolved after 1949, focusing on those directly maintained on the government’s payroll in Shanghai. This group was small in the beginning but soon began to expand. During the 1950s, after taking over almost all public-service institutions, the state took steps to absorb private enterprises through the policy of “public-private joint operation.” A large cohort of workers was thus added to the state payroll. Following these changes, the cities had become home mainly to employees of the party-state, together with their dependents. The state provided various benefits to its insiders. At the same time, it reduced most of the rural population to a kind of serfdom, while putting in place a set of mechanisms to secure the boundary between insiders and outsiders. / Thesis (Ph.D, History) -- Queen's University, 2012-06-27 09:01:49.88

The spatial structure of Cape Town is characterised by segregated low density development patterns and urban sprawling. With a high population growth rate and urbanisation, these patterns are becoming more prominent. Due to the spatial nature of Cape Town, a large proportion of economic activities and employment opportunities are concentrated in patches across the city. In order to combat low-density sprawl and integrate spatially separated areas the key concept ?city densification? and the various elements thereof emerged. The segregated low density city structure, the concentrated nature of economic and employment opportunities along with an ever increasing population and inadequate public transport system resulted in issues such as long average travel lengths, low accessibility by poorer communities, greater use of private vehicles, and a sharp rise in traffic congestion. With the implementation of the Integrated Rapid Transport System (IRT), an initiative to transform the public transport sector to integrate all modal options, the opportunity is rendered to address these environmental, social and economical issues. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the City of Cape Town (CoCT) is utilising the full potential of the new Integrated Transport System currently being developed and implemented in Cape Town, namely the MyCiTi BRT System. It was determined that in terms of potential environmental benefits the CoCT, is utilising its full potential. Furthermore, although the potential social benefits were being utilised, the urgency of addressing social inequality is not reflected in the phased timeframe set out for the system. In terms of economic benefits, the options of using land-value add and environmental finance currently not sufficiently utilised and should be used to encourage a more sustainable public transport system. / Thesis (M.Art. et Scien. (Town and Regional planning))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The spatial structure of Cape Town is characterised by segregated low density development patterns and urban sprawling. With a high population growth rate and urbanisation, these patterns are becoming more prominent. Due to the spatial nature of Cape Town, a large proportion of economic activities and employment opportunities are concentrated in patches across the city. In order to combat low-density sprawl and integrate spatially separated areas the key concept ?city densification? and the various elements thereof emerged. The segregated low density city structure, the concentrated nature of economic and employment opportunities along with an ever increasing population and inadequate public transport system resulted in issues such as long average travel lengths, low accessibility by poorer communities, greater use of private vehicles, and a sharp rise in traffic congestion. With the implementation of the Integrated Rapid Transport System (IRT), an initiative to transform the public transport sector to integrate all modal options, the opportunity is rendered to address these environmental, social and economical issues. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the City of Cape Town (CoCT) is utilising the full potential of the new Integrated Transport System currently being developed and implemented in Cape Town, namely the MyCiTi BRT System. It was determined that in terms of potential environmental benefits the CoCT, is utilising its full potential. Furthermore, although the potential social benefits were being utilised, the urgency of addressing social inequality is not reflected in the phased timeframe set out for the system. In terms of economic benefits, the options of using land-value add and environmental finance currently not sufficiently utilised and should be used to encourage a more sustainable public transport system. / Thesis (M.Art. et Scien. (Town and Regional planning))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

This thesis documents the attempts by one Australian State government to manage assumed social and economic risks associated with its transition into a globalised economy and society. The specific research focus is on the policy strategy Queensland State Education–2010 (QSE-2010) developed by the Queensland State government and released in 2000. The thesis adopts a governmentality perspective to develop a policy case study focusing on the formulation of QSE-2010 through to its implementation as set out in the Queensland Government’s 2002 White Paper, Education and Training Reforms for the Future. The research demonstrates how one State education system in Australia was transformed as a result of the spread of global risk rationalities originating in comparative studies conducted by the OECD. The study begins by examining how QSE-2010 was discursively positioned within a policy environment characterised by the transformation of social and economic relations into deterritorialised flows and globally connected networks of the global knowledge economy. Queensland’s future prosperity in this emerging context was articulated as unpredictable and uncertain. The policy discourse of QSE-2010 thus presented the global as a novel problem space requiring intervention by responsible government. This analysis identifies the key policy role of knowledge producing practices such as statistical studies, international comparisons and performance benchmarking in transforming global uncertainty into a form that was conducive to governmental programming in education. In the case of education in Queensland, this involved mobilising specific calculative technologies to transform global economic uncertainty into knowable and calculable educational risk. This was expressed in QSE-2010s principal performance target that required 88 percent of students to complete Year 12 by 2010. This study further traces how Education Queensland’s aspirations to manage globalisation risks were translated into practical programs of social and educational governance. It proposes that the concept of social capital was critical for providing a means of attributing economic value to certain patterns of social interaction within families and between families and communities. Once authorities were able to link particular patterns of sociability to increased levels of educational attainment, it became possible to problematise the social capital of some families as a potential source of risk for educational disengagement of students. Here, the social capital believed to characterise the professional, globally networked middle class family emerged as a model for education authorities in Queensland for re-configuring the social capital of disadvantaged families. Social capital thus became instrumental in Education Queensland’s strategy to govern the relationships between schools and their communities, especially relationships between the home and school. Understanding of the problem of educational disengagement afforded by social capital led to attempts to impose particular forms of social capital on Queensland families. This was achieved by mandating the involvement of parents and students in the process of Senior Education and Training Plans. These plans were formally negotiated education and training pathways that students would follow for the completion of the senior phase of learning and the award of the Queensland Certificate of Education. The study argues that governmental technologies such as social capital are critical determinants of the limits and possibilities for social justice outcomes in education policy because they function to constitute both the problems of government and the scope of legitimate policy intervention. It further argues that these technologies have been instrumental in sustaining neoliberal policy solutions in Queensland education because they render invisible socio-economic explanations for educational disadvantage and structured inequalities in education. The study concludes by exploring alternative policy configurations that are made intelligible by alternative ways of representing the social and economic context of schooling.

This thesis documents the attempts by one Australian State government to manage assumed social and economic risks associated with its transition into a globalised economy and society. The specific research focus is on the policy strategy Queensland State Education–2010 (QSE-2010) developed by the Queensland State government and released in 2000. The thesis adopts a governmentality perspective to develop a policy case study focusing on the formulation of QSE-2010 through to its implementation as set out in the Queensland Government’s 2002 White Paper, Education and Training Reforms for the Future. The research demonstrates how one State education system in Australia was transformed as a result of the spread of global risk rationalities originating in comparative studies conducted by the OECD. The study begins by examining how QSE-2010 was discursively positioned within a policy environment characterised by the transformation of social and economic relations into deterritorialised flows and globally connected networks of the global knowledge economy. Queensland’s future prosperity in this emerging context was articulated as unpredictable and uncertain. The policy discourse of QSE-2010 thus presented the global as a novel problem space requiring intervention by responsible government. This analysis identifies the key policy role of knowledge producing practices such as statistical studies, international comparisons and performance benchmarking in transforming global uncertainty into a form that was conducive to governmental programming in education. In the case of education in Queensland, this involved mobilising specific calculative technologies to transform global economic uncertainty into knowable and calculable educational risk. This was expressed in QSE-2010s principal performance target that required 88 percent of students to complete Year 12 by 2010. This study further traces how Education Queensland’s aspirations to manage globalisation risks were translated into practical programs of social and educational governance. It proposes that the concept of social capital was critical for providing a means of attributing economic value to certain patterns of social interaction within families and between families and communities. Once authorities were able to link particular patterns of sociability to increased levels of educational attainment, it became possible to problematise the social capital of some families as a potential source of risk for educational disengagement of students. Here, the social capital believed to characterise the professional, globally networked middle class family emerged as a model for education authorities in Queensland for re-configuring the social capital of disadvantaged families. Social capital thus became instrumental in Education Queensland’s strategy to govern the relationships between schools and their communities, especially relationships between the home and school. Understanding of the problem of educational disengagement afforded by social capital led to attempts to impose particular forms of social capital on Queensland families. This was achieved by mandating the involvement of parents and students in the process of Senior Education and Training Plans. These plans were formally negotiated education and training pathways that students would follow for the completion of the senior phase of learning and the award of the Queensland Certificate of Education. The study argues that governmental technologies such as social capital are critical determinants of the limits and possibilities for social justice outcomes in education policy because they function to constitute both the problems of government and the scope of legitimate policy intervention. It further argues that these technologies have been instrumental in sustaining neoliberal policy solutions in Queensland education because they render invisible socio-economic explanations for educational disadvantage and structured inequalities in education. The study concludes by exploring alternative policy configurations that are made intelligible by alternative ways of representing the social and economic context of schooling.

A mortalidade neonatal, em vários países do mundo, corresponde ao componente mais expressivo da mortalidade infantil. No Brasil, esta mortalidade mantém-se em patamares elevados e com acentuadas desigualdades regionais em sua distribuição. Este estudo teve como objetivos, analisar a tendência temporal e fatores associados à mortalidade neonatal, identificar padrões na sua distribuição espacial e a relação desta com as condições de vida além de analisar a evolução das desigualdades sociais no risco de morte neonatal e suas relações com características maternas, condições de nascimento, atenção à saúde e de condições de vida em Salvador, Bahia, no período de 1980 a 2006. No primeiro artigo que compõe esta tese, construiu-se uma série temporal dos óbitos neonatais de 1980 a 2006, enquanto nos segundo e terceiro artigos, correspondentes a estudos de agregados espaciais referentes a 2000-2006, Zonas de Informação (ZI) compuseram as unidades de análise. Estas foram agregadas em estratos de elevada, intermediária, baixa e muito baixa condição de vida, com base em um Índice de Condições de Vida. Análise de Componentes Principais, Correlação de Spearman, Regressão Linear ordinal e espacial e Qui-Quadrado de tendência foram métodos empregados na análise dos dados, além do Teste I de Moran (Global e Local) para avaliar dependência espacial, e Risco Relativo, para avaliar as desigualdades sociais. Os resultados demonstraram tendência de estabilização dos óbitos neonatais a partir de 1992 e as três principais causas são redutíveis por adequada atenção à gestação, ao parto e ao recém-nascido. Evidenciou-se autocorrelação espacial entre as taxas (I=0,1717; p=0,0100). O padrão espacial detectado teve a proporção de nascidos vivos (NV) com baixo peso como seu principal fator explicativo e definiu os maiores riscos para esta mortalidade (> 9,0/1000 NV) concentrados em áreas do centro e subúrbio, e os mais baixos (3,2 a 5,5/1000NV) ao sul e leste da cidade. Demonstrou-se associação da mortalidade neonatal com as condições de vida, confirmada pelo gradiente linear e crescente do risco nesta mortalidade do estrato de melhor para o de pior condição de vida, indicando a influência da desigualdade social nesta mortalidade. Há indícios de redução desta desigualdade, devido ao decréscimo ocorrido no estrato de intermediária condição de vida (β= -0,93; 0,039), aliada à reduzida variação no risco de morte neonatal do estrato de elevada condição de vida. São necessárias novas estratégias para a redução da mortalidade neonatal que contemplem maior qualificação e reestruturação da atenção à saúde materno-infantil, bem como outras que promovam melhorias nas condições de vida da população, sob o risco de comprometer a velocidade de decréscimo da mortalidade infantil no município. / Neonatal mortality in several countries of the world corresponds to the major component of infant mortality. In Brazil, this mortality remains at high levels and with marked regional differences in its distribution. This study aimed to analyze the trend and factors associated with neonatal mortality, identify patterns in their spatial distribution and the relationship between living conditions and to analyzing the evolution of social inequalities in risk of neonatal mortality and its relationship to maternal characteristics, conditions of birth, health care and living conditions in Salvador, Bahia, from 1980 to 2006. In the first article that makes up this thesis, we constructed a series of neonatal deaths from 1980 to 2006, whereas in the second and third articles, corresponding to spatial aggregation studies concerning the 2000-2006 period, Information Zones (IZ) were the units analysis. These were aggregated into strata of high, intermediate, low and very low standard of living based on an index of Living Conditions. Principal Component Analysis, Spearman correlation, linear regression, and chi-square test were used in data analysis, besides Moran’s Test I (Global and Local) in order to evaluate spatial dependence, and relative risk for social inequalities evaluation. The results showed a trend towards stabilization of neonatal deaths from 1992 and the three main causes are reducible by adequate attention to pregnancy, labor and the newborn. It was observed autocorrelation between the rates (I = 0.1717, p = 0.0100). The proportion of low birth weight as the main determinant of the spatial pattern detected and defined the greatest risk for infant mortality (>9.0/1000NV) concentrated in the downtown areas and suburbs, and the lowest (3.2 to 5.5/1000NV) to the south and east of the city. It was observed an association between neonatal mortality and living conditions, confirmed by the linear and increasing gradient of mortality risk as we go from the best stratum of living conditions to the worst one, indicating the influence social inequality on neonatal mortality. There is evidence that reducing inequality, due to the decrease occurred in the stratum living conditions (β = -0.93, 0.039), combined with reduced variation in the risk of neonatal death of the stratum living conditions. We need new strategies to reduce neonatal mortality, covering more advanced training and restructuring of attention to maternal and child health, as well as others that promote improvements in living conditions of population at risk of compromising the rate of decrease in infant mortality municipality.