This study examines the interaction of the Second World War with the selfhood of Kenneth Preston, a Keighley schoolmaster, using primarily the exceptionally rich content of Preston’s Diary, maintained 1941-1945. In tracing Preston’s home front experience, attention is given to the ways in which the war interacted with the individual’s own self and social conceptions, as well as ways in which subjective experiences and perceptions translated into objective realities, such as in Preston’s participation in the war effort. Illuminating the personal dimensions of the war experience enabled a broad range of meanings and “webs of significance” to emerge, allowing for examination of the interplay between the conflict and understandings of class, community, gender, citizenship, social mores, and aspects of social change during the conflict. Preston’s understandings of himself and of society are intriguing contributions to the discussion surrounding active wartime citizenship, and further historical awareness of the meanings and understandings held within the British population during the era of the Second World War. In particular, the prestige the war offered to modernistic notions of science and technical intelligence is shown to have held a central place in the war experience of this particular individual and in his perception of the rise of the welfare state. With its focus on selfhood, the study is distinguished from arguments grounded in analysis of cultural products from the era; it also contributes to understandings of the causes and implications of social change, as well as the war’s personal impact on the male civilian.

Political participation is a vital part of modern democracies which can be described as a way to convey the interests and the preferences of citizens and exert pressure on the government to align with the will of the citizens. For this sake it could be considered a democracy problem that citizens participate to varying extents, where people living in disadvantaged areas participate to a lesser extent compared to people in areas with a higher degree of resources. This study sets out to investigate the reasons behind this reality, using the components of the Civic Voluntarism Model as explanatory factors behind political participation within areas of different resource levels and comparing the finding between the areas to see which factors matter the most depending on the area. The research questions used are (1) Which effect do resources, motivation and recruiting network have on political participation in disadvantaged areas, and (2) Do the effects differ between disadvantaged areas and other areas? The questions will be answered using logistic regression on a data set from the 2021 SOM-survey in Gothenburg. The results show that the Civic Voluntarism Model has a higher degree of explanation in disadvantaged areas and that the factor showing the strongest degree of explanation is being a member of a local association, especially in disadvantaged areas. Some of the results are however contradictory to previous research, which gives rise to a discussion whether quantitative methods are appropriate for understanding participation – and the lack thereof – or if this needs to be further examined using qualitative methods. Keywords:

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Denna uppsats undersöker unga vuxnas politiska deltagande i Sverige. Forskning indikerar att unga engagerar sig politiskt genom andra typer av deltagandeformer än de traditionellt kända deltagandeformerna. Teorin Civic voluntarism models tre förklaringsfaktorer resurser, motivation och rekryterande nätverk kommer att stå som grund för studiens syfte. Målsättningen med denna studie är att klargöra vilka av CVM’s tre förklaringsfaktorer som unga vuxna uppfattar är mest betydelsefulla för deras politiska deltagande. För att kunna besvara studiens frågeställning har en enkätundersökning tillämpats där unga vuxna fått svara på frågor angående deras politiska deltagande och vad som kan påverka deras deltagande. Studien baseras på en kvantitativ undersökning med deduktiv ansats och bygger på tidigare forskning i form av vetenskapligt granskade artiklar.   Resultatet presenterats i form av en deskriptiv analys som på ett lättbegripligt sätt beskrivs genom stapel- och cirkeldiagram. Det empiriska resultatet indikerar att unga vuxna engagerar sig i mer individualiserade deltagande former och att partimedlemskap är något som inte uppfattas vara en betydelsefull form av politisk aktivitet. De förklaringsfaktorer som uppfattades vara viktigast är motivation och rekryterande nätverk eftersom resurser inte ses som ett hinder för unga vuxna i Sverige. Denna uppsats kan bidra till en ökad förståelse för hur CVM modellen bör utvecklas för att kunna passa in i den svenska kontexten och i Sveriges politiska system.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This study utilizes an ideological rhetorical analysis, applying Marxist and Feminist lenses, to artifacts from Kiwanis International, a prominent global service organization. These artifacts are: "The Permanent Objects of Kiwanis," guiding principles that were codified in 1924; "The Man Who Was God": a brief story about transforming from Kiwanis member to "Kiwanian," published in 1935 and 1985, respectively; and the 2012 "Join the Club" Membership Brochure. The rhetoric of discursive materials is one of the most salient representations of group ideology. In turn, ideology, particularly when it reflects and perpetuates social hegemony, has a normalizing effect on itself. Ideology shapes identity; identity shapes strategies to set process norms that create social cohesion. Norms of social cohesion become culture; culture reinforces ideology. When these components mirror social hegemony and replicate hegemonic power, they create institutions, like service organizations; these institutions then legitimate and normalize positions of social privilege. Ultimately, ideology and social hegemony reveal themselves through organizational and member practices and organizationally-produced discursive material. The purpose of this study is to analyze the historical, socio-political, and socio-cultural roots of Kiwanis International in order to draw logical conclusions about the organization's ideology for the purposes of understanding how that ideology contributes to, justifies, and perpetuates an unconscious, neo-colonial view of philanthropy. Kiwanis International, on an organizational (macro) level and at the club/member (micro) level, is structured around positions of racial, ethnic, socio-economic, linguistic, gender, and religious privilege, and so mimics the hegemonic power centers and dominant ideologies of society at large. In turn, the products and practices of the organization reflect these positions of privilege and inhibits the organization's ability to attract traditionally excluded, disenfranchised, or under-represented groups. Understanding that it is a contentious and futile to simply point where power relations exist and assert themselves, this study emphasizes where "othering" occurs in hopes of mitigating relations of domination and oppression between Kiwanis members and perspective members, and of moving forward the interests of those who have not traditionally been counted among Kiwanis' members but whose presence could save the organization.

Section 23(5) of the Constitution entrenches trade unions, employer's organisations and employers' right to engage in collective bargaining. For employees, collective bargaining is the key which opens the door to better wages, improved working conditions and an overall better standard of living to name but a few. The Labour Relations Act was promulgated to give effect to section 23 of the Constitution. However, in section 2 of the Labour Relations Act, members of the South African National Defence Force were excluded from the ambit of the Labour Relations Act (LRA). After the Constitutional Court regarded members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to be "workers", they also had the right to engage in collective bargaining. However, because of the special duty that the members of the SANDF have to fulfil namely to ensure the safety of the republic and its citizens, they are not awarded the right to strike. The question therefor is: How do the members of the SANDF compel the SANDF to bargain with them? The aim of this study is to establish if a duty to bargain was implemented by Chapter XX of the General Regulations of the South African National Defence Force and the Reserve. Firstly, the new dispensation of voluntarism under the new LRA is examined to understand how collective bargaining would work in a normal situation and not that of the members of the SANDF. Freedom of association is also discussed. The reason for this was because members of the SANDF also have to right to associate with a trade union of their choice by sections 18 and 23(2) of the Constitution. Under the new LRA, organisational rights also play a major role in the bargaining process and afford trade unions more bargaining power. The voluntarist approach followed by the new LRA effectively removed the duty to bargain from collective bargaining. As explained above, the special situation applicable to the SANDF and its members are not governed by the LRA and therefor a duty to bargain might still exist in this specific system of collective bargaining managed by the regulations. The duty to bargain is based on representativeness and good faith which are also examined in this study. To establish if a duty to bargain was created by the courts, an examination of the judgements of the High Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court reiterated that there is no legally enforceable duty to bargain between the SANDF and the South African National Defence Union (SANDU). If Chapter XX of the regulations is scrutinised, it can however be seen that there is an initial duty on the SANDF to bargain with a registered military trade union over matter set out in regulation 36 which include most if not all matters of mutual interest. Therefor it would seem that a duty to bargain is created by Chapter XX. / LLM (Labour Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Section 23(5) of the Constitution entrenches trade unions, employer's organisations and employers' right to engage in collective bargaining. For employees, collective bargaining is the key which opens the door to better wages, improved working conditions and an overall better standard of living to name but a few. The Labour Relations Act was promulgated to give effect to section 23 of the Constitution. However, in section 2 of the Labour Relations Act, members of the South African National Defence Force were excluded from the ambit of the Labour Relations Act (LRA). After the Constitutional Court regarded members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to be "workers", they also had the right to engage in collective bargaining. However, because of the special duty that the members of the SANDF have to fulfil namely to ensure the safety of the republic and its citizens, they are not awarded the right to strike. The question therefor is: How do the members of the SANDF compel the SANDF to bargain with them? The aim of this study is to establish if a duty to bargain was implemented by Chapter XX of the General Regulations of the South African National Defence Force and the Reserve. Firstly, the new dispensation of voluntarism under the new LRA is examined to understand how collective bargaining would work in a normal situation and not that of the members of the SANDF. Freedom of association is also discussed. The reason for this was because members of the SANDF also have to right to associate with a trade union of their choice by sections 18 and 23(2) of the Constitution. Under the new LRA, organisational rights also play a major role in the bargaining process and afford trade unions more bargaining power. The voluntarist approach followed by the new LRA effectively removed the duty to bargain from collective bargaining. As explained above, the special situation applicable to the SANDF and its members are not governed by the LRA and therefor a duty to bargain might still exist in this specific system of collective bargaining managed by the regulations. The duty to bargain is based on representativeness and good faith which are also examined in this study. To establish if a duty to bargain was created by the courts, an examination of the judgements of the High Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court reiterated that there is no legally enforceable duty to bargain between the SANDF and the South African National Defence Union (SANDU). If Chapter XX of the regulations is scrutinised, it can however be seen that there is an initial duty on the SANDF to bargain with a registered military trade union over matter set out in regulation 36 which include most if not all matters of mutual interest. Therefor it would seem that a duty to bargain is created by Chapter XX. / LLM (Labour Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This social constructionist study originated from the researcher’s exposure to the counselling volunteers environment. The study aimed to document the voices of three people, constructed as counselling volunteers. The three semi-structured interviews are with individuals who constructed themselves, or accepted the constructions of their role, as volunteers. The “case study approach” was chosen as the most suitable method to gather the information. “Thematic content analysis” was the method of analysis. The case studies of participants were reconstructed in terms of themes. Recurring themes in these case studies were expounded and linked within the literature. This study allowed valuable and rich information about the volunteerism to emerge. Amongst the themes that emerged, the need to help, being a good counsellor and resilience were identified as particularly important areas for future research. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

This thesis describes Japan's modern system of community fire brigades, a federated civilian paramilitary organization dedicated to localized fire prevention and response with a current active membership of over 800,000 men and women. Auxiliary firefighting institutions in Japan have had comparatively high rates of participation vis-à-vis those of other nations, but are now facing acute recruitment difficulties in the face of increased competition from alternative venues for civic engagement since the mid-1990s. This suggests both the tractability of civil society as an extra-statal sphere of institutionalized social organization as well as the inherent pluralism of its vernacular expression. I demonstrate that the nationalization of the fire brigade system in 1894 was predicated on the existence of an autonomous and normative sphere of age-graded practices of inter-household mutual aid in the villages of Tokugawa Japan. The gradual absorption and redirection of these practices into the nation-building projects of the Meiji state and its successors realized the creation of a functional emergency service organ with universal penetration at minimal expense. Nevertheless, drawing on Maurice Bloch's theory of rebounding violence, I argue that the secular rituals and state symbolism used to achieve this encompassment have conferred a legacy of structural ambivalence between civility and uncivility that continues to inform perceptions and representations of the brigade in public discourse. It follows that the phenomenon of organizational aging and questions of recruitment and succession should be seen as ideological in nature, rather than as simple indices of wider demographics or social transformation. This thesis is based on data collected during twenty months of research in Japan between 2008 and 2010, including eleven months of continuous participant observation with a brigade in Suwa District, Nagano Prefecture. Extensive ethnographic interviews with local firefighters, community members, and town officials are supplemented with data from primary and secondary historical sources, including online discussion forums. This thesis contributes to the literature on local voluntarism in Japan, as well as to the wider anthropological project of documenting non-western models of civil society.

Title: Voluntarism in Sports - FIS Nordic Junior & U23 World Ski Championships Liberec 2013 Objectives: The main target of the thesis is to evaluate the area of voluntarism during the FIS Nordic Junior & U23 World Ski Championships Liberec 2013 and to suggest recommendations for working with volunteers during other future sports events in the Liberec area. Methods: The method of electronic survey and subsequent observation was chosen for the research. The sample of respondents was chosen from the team of FIS Nordic Junior & U23 World Ski Championships Liberec 2013 volunteers. Results: The research showed that the organization of the volunteer program at FIS World Junior and U23 athletes was evaluated by the volunteers very positively; however, the research revealed weaknesses in the individual items of the agenda. The improvements are focused on the recruitment part of the program, training of the volunteers and the final evaluation and rewarding of the volunteers. Based on the results of the research, the draft of recommendations and proposals, which are suitable for further work with volunteers at sporting events, was compiled. Keywords: Voluntarism, volunteer, FIS Nordic Junior & U23 World Ski Championships Liberec 2013, methods of working with volunteers.