This dissertation is a multi-layered examination of the practice of voting, with a focus on the electoral turnout of immigrants. Chapter Two’s statistical analyses show that pre-migration cultural familiarity with democracy, formalized as levels of democratization in source countries, strongly shapes the likelihood of post-migration voting among Canadian immigrants. These origin effects, comparable in size to the best predictors of turnout that we have, exert a persistent influence – affecting turnout not only among the foreign-born, but also among the native-born second generation. Multilevel models demonstrate that the shifting source country composition of immigrant period-of-arrival cohorts provides an alternate explanation for what have previously been identified as generational, racial, and length of residence or ‘exposure’ effects among immigrant voters. This provides further evidence that voting is in most cases habitual, and raises questions about the acquisition, transmission, and reproduction of a voting practice. Chapter Three’s narratives of political development, gathered through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, confirm the importance of parental influence, and suggest that the ‘stickiness’ of practical capacities like voting may be the result of powerful processes of observational social learning. Providing a new twist on dominant models of political socialization, observation of parental voting appears to be the pivotal event in a path-dependent process of political learning, with acquisition of values and beliefs playing a supporting, rather than a leading role. Chapter Four reviews recent efforts among sociologists to amend action theory to make more room for habit, and these efforts are discussed in reference to contemporary research on turnout. I argue that these theoretical revisions still retain too sharp a focus on the cognitive aspects of practice. There is a lack of appreciation for the ways that action itself – our own previous actions and the actions of those close to us – can directly structure outcomes. Evidence from cognitive neuroscience is used to more precisely delineate habitual behaviour and thought. Where the intergenerational transmission of voting behaviour is concerned, culture is often coded directly into embodied practice. Efforts to encourage electoral participation should be built on a better understanding of voting’s substantial behavioural aspects.

This dissertation is a multi-layered examination of the practice of voting, with a focus on the electoral turnout of immigrants. Chapter Two’s statistical analyses show that pre-migration cultural familiarity with democracy, formalized as levels of democratization in source countries, strongly shapes the likelihood of post-migration voting among Canadian immigrants. These origin effects, comparable in size to the best predictors of turnout that we have, exert a persistent influence – affecting turnout not only among the foreign-born, but also among the native-born second generation. Multilevel models demonstrate that the shifting source country composition of immigrant period-of-arrival cohorts provides an alternate explanation for what have previously been identified as generational, racial, and length of residence or ‘exposure’ effects among immigrant voters. This provides further evidence that voting is in most cases habitual, and raises questions about the acquisition, transmission, and reproduction of a voting practice. Chapter Three’s narratives of political development, gathered through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, confirm the importance of parental influence, and suggest that the ‘stickiness’ of practical capacities like voting may be the result of powerful processes of observational social learning. Providing a new twist on dominant models of political socialization, observation of parental voting appears to be the pivotal event in a path-dependent process of political learning, with acquisition of values and beliefs playing a supporting, rather than a leading role. Chapter Four reviews recent efforts among sociologists to amend action theory to make more room for habit, and these efforts are discussed in reference to contemporary research on turnout. I argue that these theoretical revisions still retain too sharp a focus on the cognitive aspects of practice. There is a lack of appreciation for the ways that action itself – our own previous actions and the actions of those close to us – can directly structure outcomes. Evidence from cognitive neuroscience is used to more precisely delineate habitual behaviour and thought. Where the intergenerational transmission of voting behaviour is concerned, culture is often coded directly into embodied practice. Efforts to encourage electoral participation should be built on a better understanding of voting’s substantial behavioural aspects.

Information Communication Technology (ICT) is in the discourse of international development,which is often considered as the key to socio- economic development in the sense that it helps tosolve social problems and increases the rate of economic growth. ICT policies are situated in thiscontext. Many international agencies advocate certain policies in order to accelerate economicgrowth and development in so-called developing countries. In 2009, Bangladesh enacted itsNational ICT Policy setting a broad vision to establish a transparent, responsive and accountablegovernment; developed skilled human resources; and to enhance social equity through anextended use of ICT. Following this vision multiple objectives have been addressed where socialequity and integrity are prioritized in the name of developing a socially equitable and integratedsociety through ICT. The research task of this work is to analyze the discourse of this strategyand to compare it to social reality. The ‘Theory of Communicative Action’ (TCA), which isbased on the four validity claims - truth, legitimacy, sincerity, and clarity - is used to demonstratehow social equity and integrity are addressed as objectives and what claims are made in theaction items with regard to these two objectives and how far such claims reflect social reality.Keywords:Information Communication Technology (ICT), National ICT Policy, Social Equity, Integrity,Communicative Action Theory, Critical Discourse Analysis, Validity Claims, ICT4D, CriticalTheory, Critical Information Systems research.

Die Perspektive, die der Autor entwickelt, ist die der dialektischen Tätigkeitstheorie. Gemäß dieser Theorie ist Musik eine spezifische Art der Aneignung von Wirklichkeit. SchülerInnen sollten im Musikunterricht lernen, bewusst, selbstbestimmt und sozial zu handeln, wenn sie sich durch Musizieren Wirklichkeit aneignen. Wenn SchülerInnen im Unterricht Musik machen, müssen sie sich daher auch des kulturellen Kontextes bewusst sein, dem die Musik entstammt. Sie sollten auch selbstbestimmt handeln, d.h. es muss ihnen die Gelegenheit geboten werden, auf soziale Art und Weise innerhalb der Gruppe das Ergebnis mit zu bestimmen. Daher kritisiert der Autor alle drei der vorgeführten Musikstunden, weil sie den kulturellen Kontext und damit die Bedeutung und Funktion der Musik nicht berücksichtigen. Zwei der vorgeführten Stunden geben den Schüler/innen auch nicht die Möglichkeit selbstbestimmt zu handeln. Da alle drei Musikstunden „interkulturelle Themen“ behandeln, skizziert der Autor ein Handlungskonzept, so Musik zu machen, dass der kulturelle Kontext impliziert ist und die SchülerInnen selbstbestimmt handeln. Dies Konzept hat der Autor im Zusammenhang mit der Diskussion um interkulturelle Musikerziehung entwickelt. / The author sketches his specific perspective which is derived from a dialectic action-theory. Following this theory music is a genuine way to acquire reality. Music students have to learn to act conscious, self-determined, and social when they acquire reality by making music. When making music students have to be conscious of the cultural context the music comes from. They also have to act self-determined, i.e. they have to have the opportunity to determine the result of their music-making in a social way within the group. Thus the autor critizes all three lessons because they do not deal with the cultural context and therefore the meaning and function of the music. Two of the lessons also do not give the students the opportunity to act self-determined. As all three music lessons deal with „intercultural subjects“, the author sketches a concept of acting and making music in a way that includes cultural context and self-determination, and which he has developed within the context of multicultural music education.

Aufbauend auf einer Darstellung der Relevanz von Wissens- und Technologietransfer sowie einem theoretischen Abriss der bisherigen clustertheoretischen Forschungsdiskussion werden die Forschungsfragen der Studie entwickelt. Diese konzentrieren sich auf einen handlungstheoretischen Ansatz und möchten ermitteln, welche sozialen Rollen im Kontext kooperativer Innovationsprozesse zwischen Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft von Bedeutung sind, damit diese zu einem erfolgreichen Ende geführt werden können. Die Publikation stellt das komplexe Untersuchungsdesign der Studie dar, das qualitative und quantitative Methoden verbindet, um ein umfangreiches Bild sozio-ökonomischer, organisatorischer und technischer Voraussetzungen von kooperativen Innovationsprozessen zu eruieren. Die Ergebnisdarstellung liefert einen Überblick der erarbeiteten Erkenntnisse der Studie und stellt neben den jeweiligen Transferförderungsstrategien der untersuchten Bundesländer, die Resultate der Befragungen (Leitfadeninterviews, Fragebögen) dar. Deren Kern stellt ein empirisch fundiertes Rollenmodell kooperativer Innovationsprozesse dar, welches einen transparenten Überblick zu notwendigen Aufgaben im Rahmen von Transfervorhaben zwischen Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und unterstützenden Organisationen liefert. Abschließend werden Empfehlungen zur Unterstützung von Transferprozessen zwischen Wissenschaft und vor allem mittelständischer Wirtschaft sowie dafür erprobte Transferformate und Werkzeuge dargestellt. Die Publikation enthält im Anhang die eingesetzten Erhebungsinstrumente der empirischen Studie (Fragebogen, Interviewleitfäden). / Based on a description of the economic relevance of knowledge and technology transfer as well as the theoretical outline of the previous cluster discussion the text develops research questions for an empiric study. These questions are concentrated on action theory and try to determine which social roles are necessary to support cooperative innovation processes between the scientific and economic system. A complex survey design is described which combines qualitative and quantitative research methods to identify an extensive picture of socio-economic, organisational and technical conditions for cooperative innovation processes. The study results present a short overview of funding structures for technology transfer in the investigated German federal lands as well as the findings of the survey (questionnaire, interviews). Core result of the study is the empirically-grounded role-concept of cooperative innovation processes which delivers a transparent overview of all tasks necessary for transfer processes between science, economic system and supporting organisations (e.g. transfer centres). Finally suggestions are made for the support of transfer processes between science and esp. medium-sized enterprises including the presentation of tested transfer formats and tools. In the appendix the publication contains questionnaires and interview guidelines used in the empirical investigation.

The dissertation addresses the negative consequences of the generally positive democratic ambition behind social planning: the good purpose may conceal less good actions. The aim is to study the thought-style of social planning and its most powerful topos, the denial of discrepancies. The focus of the dissertation is to exemplify how the denial of discrepancies and the consequences of denial become manifest. With emphasis on continuity and history, is shown how a Cartesian legacy shapes the thought-style of social planning, which is animated and upheld by the planning-collective: the integration of policy and science in planning. The planning-collective’s voice has become hegemonic through maintaining a harmony of illusions. The result is a lack of responsiveness to people’s varied modes of expression; voices that differ from the hegemonic thought-style are thus perceived as dissonance. Discrepancies in the form of differences of opinion and lack of consensus thus appear as sources of anxiety.  The mode of planning is based on a set of habitual thoughts and actions, topoi, that have become taken-for-granted. The result is an objectification of that which we call living, and the study shows through a number of examples, including “social economy”, how this form of objectification occurs. The epistemological frame of reference of the dissertation is constituted by Ludwik Fleck’s theory of thought-collectives, thought-styles and migrations of thought, and José Luis Ramírez’s action-theory, focused on language as action. Michel Foucault’s works on disciplining, political technologies, and discursive struggles are applied to create understanding of how the planning approach to representing people’s life activities has been shaped and how it influences them.

Mondi is an international packaging and paper company that manages over 300 000 ha of land in South Africa. After over a decade of working with Mondi to improve its wetland management, wetland sustainability practices were still not integrated into the broader forestry operations, despite some significant cases of successful wetland rehabilitation. An interventionist research project was therefore conducted to explore the factors inhibiting improved wetland management, and determine if and how expansive social learning processes could strengthen organisational learning and development to overcome these factors. In doing so, the research has investigated how informal adult learning supports organisational change to strengthen wetland and environmental sustainability practices, within a corporate plantation forestry context. How individual and/or group-based learning interactions translate to the collective, at the level of organisational change was a key issue probed in this study. The following three research questions were used to guide the research: 1. What tensions and contradictions exist in wetland management in a plantation forestry company? 2. Can expansive learning begin to address the tensions and contradictions that exist in wetland management in a plantation forestry company, for improved sustainability practices? 3. Can expansive social learning strengthen organisational learning and development, enabling Mondi to improve its wetland sustainability practices, and if so how does it do this? Cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) and the theory of expansive learning provided an epistemological framework for the research. The philosophy of critical realism gave ontological depth to the research, and contributed to a deeper understanding of CHAT and expansive learning. Critical realism was therefore used as a philosophy to underlabour the theoretical framework of the research. However CHAT and expansive learning could not provide the depth of detail required to explain how the expansive learning, organisational social change, and boundary crossings that are necessary for assembling the collective were taking place. Realist social theory (developed out of critical realism by Margaret Archer as an ontologically located theory of how and why social change occurs, or does not) supported the research to do this. The morphogenetic framework was used as a methodology for applying realist social theory. The expansive learning cycle was used as a methodology for applying CHAT and the theory of expansive learning; guiding the development of new knowledge creation required by Mondi staff to identify contradictions and associated tensions inhibiting wetland management, understand their root causes, and develop solutions. Through the expansive learning process, the tensions and contradictions become generative as a tool supporting expansive social learning, rather than as a means to an end where universal consensus was reached on how to circumvent the contradictions. The research was conducted in five phases: • Phase 1: Contextual profiling to identify and describe three activity systems in Mondi responsible for wetland management: 1) siviculture foresters; 2) environmental specialists; 3) community engagement facilitators. The data was generated and analysed through through document analysis, 17 interviews, 2nd generation CHAT analysis, and Critical Realist generative mechanism analysis; • Phase 2: Analysis and identification of tensions and contradictions through a first interventionist workshop. Modelling new solutions to deal with contractions, and examining and testing new models in and after the second interventionist workshop; • Phase 3: Implementing new models as wetland management projects and involved project implementation. This included boundary crossing practices of staff in the three activity systems, reflection and re-view in a further five progress review/interventionist workshops, and a management meeting and seminar; • Phase 4: Reflecting on the expansive learning process, results, and consolidation of changed practices, through nine reflective interviews and field observations; • Phase 5: Morphogenic/stasis analysis of the organisational change and development catalysed via the expansive social learning process (or not). The research found that expansive social learning processes supported organisational learning and development for improved wetland management by: 1) strengthening the scope, depth, and sophistication of participant understanding; 2) expanding the ways staff interact and collaboratively work together; 3) democratising decision making; 4) improving social relations between staff, reducing power differentials, and creating stronger relationships; 5) enhancing participant reflexivity through deeper understanding of social structures and cultural systems, and changing them to support improved wetland and environmental practice of staff, and developing the organisational structures and processes to strengthen organisational learning and development; and 6) using the contradictions identified as generative mechanisms to stimulate and catalyse organisational learning and development for changed wetland/environmental management.

Får- och byggnadskroppsdelar - Handlingar och spatiala relationer kring byggnadsdeponeringar av får på Öland. Sheep and building body parts - Actions and spatial relations regarding buildingdeposits of sheep on Öland. Abstract This essay studies ten Ölandic examples of sheep bodies or sheep body parts deposited in Iron Agebuildings. In addition to literary works, the source material examined in the essay also consists ofunpublished sources and two osteological examinations, which were carried out as a part of thework on the essay (appendix 1 & 2).The purpose of the essay is to study both the actions that become visible through the skeletalmaterial, and the possible presence of spatial patterns regarding the bone deposits. The work iscarried out using an action-theoretical approach. Furthermore, a comparative method is used toexamine the ten sites in relation to each other. The results from this are ambiguous. The thesis' mainconclusion is; 1) that the bodies of sheep was sometimes disintegrated on Öland during the IronAge, to be; 2) placed in a certain spatial proximity of the foundation of roof-supporting posts. Keywords: Öland, Iron Age, Ritual Deposits, Sheep, bodies, body parts, foundation, sacrifice, action-theory

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Primary school choice - an important mechanism influencing equity in education Jaroslava Simonová Abstract This dissertation describes the process of school choice in primary education and the factors influencing it. Using a qualitative grounded theory design, the work builds on data from 41 interviews with parents from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. Parents' decision-making about school choice is shaped primarily by the organizational needs of parents and their inner need to be a "good parent". When being interviewed, parents report a number of criteria, which, according to them, are important in school choice. However, for many of them they fail to obtain relevant and reliable information. Therefore, they may eventually make a decision based on criteria other than those referred to as important, although they are rarely aware of this shift and the change in criteria. There are three unavoidable criteria in decision-making: availability, reputation and the emotions that parents experienced at school during their visit. The child's needs are the important intervening conditions. They play an important role, especially if the parents feel that their child has some particular needs. The parents' experience with the education system and their personality characteristics are also important. The significant...