[pt] Compreender as lutas sociais pelo direito à saúde a partir das gerações é o objetivo principal desta investigação. Busca-se refletir em que medida o pertencimento geracional dos atores apresenta potencial heurístico sobre a análise dos contextos, da trajetória histórica e das formas de ação coletiva de movimentos sociais. Numa abordagem exploratória e qualitativa, considera-se geração como uma possibilidade explicativa de alguns fenômenos e acontecimentos políticos concretos sociologicamente refletidos: questões relacionadas às linguagens, quadros interpretativos, repertórios de ação, identidades políticas ou uso de tecnologias, por exemplo, compõem a análise sob a perspectiva da coexistência geracional na ação coletiva dos movimentos sociais em saúde e pode elucidar a conformação de hierarquias, disputas, consensos, continuidades, rupturas e agendas na historicidade de uma luta social. Tanto em retrospecto, quanto em sentido prospectivo, ser reconhecido ou reconhecer-se como parte de uma geração é o mesmo que interpretar e se situar nos acontecimentos sociais e políticos vividos em um determinado tempo e numa determinada cultura; é transpor o conjunto de experiências individuais para uma experiência geracional comum. Como observação empírica, adotam-se as formas de ação coletiva impulsionadas pelos atores do campo da saúde no período entre a década de 1980 do século XX às duas primeiras décadas do século XXI. Os métodos e técnicas empregados foram: pesquisa documental e entrevistas semiestruturadas com atores-chave, identificados como representantes de diferentes gerações políticas dedicadas às lutas pelo direito à saúde. / [en] Understanding social struggles for the right to health from generation to generation is the main objective of this investigation. It seeks to reflect on what extent the generational belonging of the actors presents heuristic potential in the analysis of contexts, historical trajectory, and forms of collective action of social movements. In an exploratory and qualitative approach, generation is considered as an explanatory possibility of some sociologically reflected concrete political phenomena and events: questions related to languages, interpretative frameworks, action repertoires, political identities, or use of technologies, for instance, make up the analysis under the perspective of generational coexistence in the collective action of social movements and can elucidate the formation of hierarchies, disputes, consensus, continuities, ruptures and agendas in the historicity of a social struggle. Both in retrospect and prospective sense, being recognized or recognizing oneself as part of a generation is the same as interpreting and situating oneself in the social and political events experienced at a given time and in a given culture; it is to transpose the set of individual experiences into a common generational experience. As an empirical observation, the forms of collective action driven by actors in the field of health are adopted during the period from the 1980s of the 20th century to the first two decades of the 21st century. The methods and techniques employed were: documentary research and semi-structured interviews with key actors, identified as representatives of different political generations dedicated to the struggle for the right to health.

Using the alternative currency concept of a timebank, this qualitative study aims to evaluate attitudes towards community life on Gotland using three distinct island communities: the Uppsala University Campus Gotland, the city of Visby and the countryside of Gotland. Focus groups and expert interviews have been used to create a holistic understanding of community life on the island, with relation to concepts of timebanks. A thematic analysis with comparative characteristics in combination with theory of social capital and collective action has been used to analyze the collected data. Following the theory, the three communities have been identified as “Transitory Kinship” (Campus), “Family Unit” (City), and “Collective Dream” (Countryside), each characterizing their inherent uniqueness. This research shows that identity, belonging, trust, value, and reciprocity as themes for a thriving community are present within all Gotlandic communities. Another outcome of this study is the alignment of the values of timebanking with Gotlandic community perceptions, within the social capital framework. The findings indicate differences between the three communities such as mentalities around value and trust. We find the communities of Visby and the university as the biggest beneficiaries for the possible foundation of a timebank.

This thesis illuminates the experiences, motives, and framing process of a cohort of homebirthing women in Tucson, Arizona who embody the collective action frames of the national homebirth movement. A model of birth frame construction, alignment and adoption is presented that expands current theory on social movement framing processes, cognitive liberation, and life politics in health and self-help related movements. The study explores the evolution of homebirth midwifery nationally and locally. It articulates the main collective action frames that argue against standard maternity care and presents the alternatives proffered by the homebirth movement. It presents micro-level experiences of movement pioneers, macro-articulations of movement leaders, respondent's micro-level birth model framing processes; and how "life politics" have changed birth culture in America. Written materials augmented data obtained from in-depth interviews with (n=38) respondents who homebirthed in Tucson between 1970 and 2000. Content analysis was utilized and grounded theory was employed.

This thesis examines a new form of agency for change that has surfaced in rural areas of post-war Guatemala around the defence of territory and natural resources. I argue that this new form of agency emerges in the shadow of a state co-opted by elite factions and manifests distinct qualities from previous expressions of revolutionary and democratic activism. It is localised and characterised by varied aspects of what I call ‘difference’, an antagonistic stance based on locally embedded political, economic and cultural meanings which challenges the elite-promoted reordering of relationships and spaces. This ‘difference’ is enacted through the ‘defence of territory’, which expresses a socio-political and cultural attachment to particular physical spaces and has instigated collective resistances to the implementation of projects linked to the exploitation of natural resources. The thesis analyses this form of agency through two case studies, one among indigenous communities in the Northern Quiché, the second among primarily non-indigenous communities in the municipalities of San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc. As this research demonstrates, given the firm integration of conventional channels of democratic participation into the patterns of state co-option, the primary aim of these struggles is the re-appropriation of decision-making processes and the carving out of spaces, in which their ‘difference’ can evolve. In the context of a co-opted state, these local expressions of agency create spaces in which fragile, embryonic forms of collective interaction and deliberation that represent a condition for democratic processes, are kept alive. However, their non-linear articulations and specific local character are also a testament to the complexity of the construction of democratic processes in countries like Guatemala.

The research draws on an ethnographic research and explores the everyday practice of collective action in Ugbawka in Enugu State by using interviews and participant observation. The study reveals that smallholder collective action is not best fitted into formal institutional arrangement but takes place within a complex and intricate process that involves interaction with diversity of institutions and actors. Equally, the interactions that occur amongst actors are mediated at the community level through interplay of socio-cultural and political factors. This study recognises and places emphasis on understanding of agency and the exercise of agency at the local level arguing that smallholder farmers are not robot but active individual who exercise their agency purposively or impulsively depending on conditions and the assets available at their disposition as well as their ability to navigate the intricate power dynamic inherent at local context. The thesis thus questioned the simplistic use of formal institutional collective action framework in smallholder collective action at the community level and argues that institutions are not static and do not determine outcomes but are informed by the prevailing conditions at the community level. The study emphasises the role of existing institutions and socially embedded principles in community governance and argues that actors should be the focus of analysis rather than the system in understanding smallholder collective action. The study concludes by advocating for further research that could explore the possibility of hybrid approach that accepts the advantages of both formal and informal institutional forms of smallholder collective action.

This research seeks to answer why and which Chinese people go to the street to protest. I argue that different sectors of Chinese society differ from each other regarding their tendencies to participate in protest. In addition to their grievances, the incentives to participate in protest and their capacities to overcome the collective action problem all needed to be taken into account. Using individual level data along with ordinary binary logistic regression and multilevel logistic regression models, I first compare the protest participation of workers and peasants and find that workers are more likely than peasants to participate in protests in the context of contemporary China. I further disaggregate the working class into four subtypes according to the ownership of the enterprises they work for. I find that workers of township and village enterprises are more likely than workers of state-owned enterprises to engage in protest activities, while there is no significant difference between the workers of domestic privately owned enterprises and the workers of foreign-owned enterprises regarding their protest participation. Finally, I find that migrant workers, which refers to peasants who move to urban areas in search of jobs, are less likely than urban registered workers to participate in protests.

This dissertation argues that the core of building smart cities is through the procurement and implementation of smart city technologies (SCTs) by either individual (i.e., smart city) or collaborative endeavors (i.e., smart governance). Given that urbanization problems (e.g., air pollution) usually spill over city boundaries, building smart cities as silos may not solve these problems. Therefore, utilizing smart governance in SCT procurement and implementation should be a better approach. Considering the potential benefits of smart governance, this dissertation addresses three overarching questions: (1) What is a smart city? (2) What is smart governance? and (3) Why do some cities choose to participate in smart governance while others do not? By developing a typology of smart governance, this dissertation categorizes three levels of smart governance based on cities' participation in cooperative procurement and implementation of SCTs. Data collected from the 2019 Smart Governance Survey confirm that the level of smart governance does vary among Texas cities. Applying transaction costs and institutional collective action (ICA) frameworks, the dissertation finds that public managers' perceptions on transaction costs and joint gains as well as cities' extant ICA mechanisms affect cities' participation in smart governance.

This study compares repertoire and framing between two protests in the early Dutch environmental movement and two protests in the modern Dutch environmental movement. The aim of the study is to find differences and similarities between the two time periods the protests take place in. The four cases are studied using the comparative case study method, specifically doing a historical comparison. In each case, the theoretical concepts of repertoire and framing are analyzed. Each case is studied through a qualitative analysis of archival and secondary sources, including newspaper articles, publications and social media posts. Using the theoretical concepts of framing and repertoire, several similarities and differences are found between the four cases. All four cases use the frame of the threat to human health in their campaigns and aimed for a low threshold for people to join their campaigns. Frames differed more across campaigns with different topics than across campaigns from different time periods. In repertoire, cases differed across time periods more than within time periods. The contemporary cases focus on commitment by showing the willingness to bear great personal risk, whereas the historical cases focus on showcasing their worthiness through alliances with strategic actors. Overall, the comparative historical analysis employed in this research reveals that there are greater differences between time periods when it comes to repertoire than in framing, showing that repertoire is defined more by time period than framing for the chosen cases.

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