The questions for this study are: 1. What are networks? 2. How do networks work? These questions are answered by means of two different investigations. The first is chiefly theoretical and the second is primarily empirical. The theoretical investigation begins with an examination of four different concepts of networks used in social research: network as a perspective, network as a phenomenon, network as a research method and network as a method for development. The concept is then further investigated on three levels. On the first level, the parts of a network and the relationships between these parts are analysed. The second level focuses on the emergent properties of a network. The emergent properties refer to those irreducible features that make it a network, and that at the same time mark the difference between networks and other types of social entities (organizations, rituals etc.). Two such properties form the starting point for the examination, namely value-adding and diffusion. The third level of analysis places the network in relation to space and organization. This three level analysis is used throughout the thesis. In the empirical section, four cases of entrepreneurial networks are examined. The aim of the case studies is to identify the network and to study how the network works. What in the example is the network? How does the network work in the actual case? What does the network do? What properties can be assigned to the network and the way it works? Or, more comprehensively, from the examination of four cases of networks, what conclusions can be drawn about what networks are and how they function? From the case studies I have concluded that personal ties are fundamental to a network, and that the chains of production are a type of tie that may, but does not have to, occur when the network is activated in an entrepreneurial context. For the entrepreneurs and their enterprises, the social exchange has no value in itself, but if it can add value, for example as a lubricant in coordinating production chains, it fulfils an important purpose. I have also concluded that what makes an entrepreneurial network a network is not the coordination of production chains, but the personal relationships that manage these chains. Thus it is not the coordination itself, but the way of coordinating that is of importance. Networks can be found in structures of many different types of ties, but for the emergent properties to emerge there has to be a structure of personal ties at the core. I have assumed that a network is not a method or a perspective, but a social entity with certain properties. The investigation has provided support for this assumption. There is extensive research on SME networks, industrial districts and value-adding chains that shows that networks in production contexts form social constellations with their own distinctive features and ways of working. The relationship between networks and space is temporary, but not essential. Networks can be bound to places, but they do not have to be. An important structural difference between organizations and networks is that networks are formed of separate units that cooperate, while organizations form a single unit that may, but does not have to be characterized by cooperation. The most important conclusion from the comparison of organizations and networks is that these concepts together provide a better explanation of the case studies than either of the concepts alone. To understand and explain the complex social interplay that occurs in the case studies, it is a great advantage to use networks and organizations as concepts for different social entities with different properties and different ways of working.

Even if strategy research often assumes that strategies are the result of intentional and purposeful behaviour the individual and human agency have tended to be neglected. Few empirical studies focus on how the individuals, their conceptions and actions interact with strategy formation. Based on ideas from process research and critical realism we made a review of the research and we maintain that the bulk of the research is based on simplified assumptions. We therefore propose a supplementary socio-cognitive approach based on more realistic assumptions, a synthesis and action logic approach, emphasising the individuals, the leading team and their embeddedness. In a process study with a comparative case study design we followed, in real time for about a decade, strategy formation processes in intermediate organisation in local economic development. Various methods of data collection and analysis were combined. By laying bare some of the mechanisms that explain the outcome in four processes we demonstrate the use of the proposed approach. A theoretical construction, the agent´s strategic concepts of action (SCA), aims at capturing the conceptions as an expression of the individual frame of reference providing reasons for action. The SCA carries explanatory power and is significant for both the process and content of the strategies. A typology of the SCAs is developed. The composition, the interaction and the structure of the team are other central aspects. We conclude that a strong group well suited to lead a formation process include a proactive strategist with a strategic idea and social capability; the role constellation is differentiated, and supplementary and other strategic actors relate to the strategy and the contextual roots in a way that will support the strategy. We also demonstrate in which circumstances some cognitive, social and political mechanisms discussed in earlier research are activated.

The thesis investigates how the notion of ‘ontology’ has been used in the field of medical informatics and knowledge representation. Partly to investigate what an ‘ontology’ can be said to represent and what requirements we can have on a good ‘ontology’. The author studies the already existing medical terminologies and ‘ontologies’ to elucidate what theories they are based on. The terminological theories of Eugen Wüster and his legacy in medical informatics are studied. It is noted that terminological theories handling linguistic entities are not suited for describing and representing medical theories, since these are assumed to refer to the real world, which consists of more than linguistics entities. In order to find a metaphysical theory in accordance with the world view that medical theories describe, the author turn to the critical realism of Karl Popper, Roy Bhaskar and Ilkka Niiniluoto. These theories, taken together with the metaphysical theories regarding universals of David M Armstrong and Ingvar Johansson, are used as a basis to find out what an ‘ontology’ can be said to represent, and what criteria and requirements we can have on a good ‘ontology’. Among the requirements presented in the thesis are stability, interoperability and the requirement that a good ‘ontology’ must be in accordance with our best available theories. Finally, it is discussed how these requirements and criteria can come into conflict with one another, and how one should reason when handling these trade-offs. The author emphasises the importance of including the medical expertise in the process of creating ‘ontologies’, in order to produce as useful and relevant ‘ontologies’ as possible. / Avhandlingen undersöker hur begreppet ’ontology’ används inom den medicinska informatiken och kunskapsrepresentation. Dels ämnar avhandlingen att utreda vad en ’ontology’ kan sägas representera och dels vilka krav man kan ställa på en god ’ontology’. Utifrån historiska studier av redan existerande medicinska terminologier och ontologier studeras vilka teorier som ligger till grund för dessa. Bland annat studeras Eugen Wüsters teorier rörande terminologi och hur dennes efterföljare inom medicinsk informatik ser ut. Författaren konstaterar att terminologiska teorier som behandlar språkliga entiteter inte är lämpliga för att beskriva och representera medicinska teorier, då dessa antas handla om en verklighet bestående av mer än språkliga entiteter. För att hitta en metafysisk teori som stämmer överens med den världsbild som de medicinska teorierna beskriver, vänder sig författaren till Karl Poppers, Ilkka Niiniluotos och Roy Bhaskars syn på kritisk realism, vad det gäller vetenskapliga teorier. Detta tillsammans David M Armstrongs och Ingvar Johanssons metafysiska teorier rörande immanent realism och universalia, används som grund för att försöka analysera vad en ’ontology’ kan sägas representera, och vilka krav vi kan ställa på en god ’ontology’. Bland de krav som presenteras i avhandlingen finns stabilitet, interoperabilitet och kravet på att en god ’ontology’ ska vara i enlighet med de bästa tillgängliga vetenskapliga teorierna. Avslutningsvis diskuteras hur dessa krav kan komma i konflikt med varandra, och hur man bör resonera när man hanterar dessa ’trade-offs’. Författaren poängterar vikten av att man tar med medicinska expertisen i skapandeprocessen av ’ontologies’, för att man ska producera så användbara och relevanta ’ontologies’ som möjligt.

This research seeks to connect the philosophical focus of the agency-structure debate with the practice of management through a comparative study of organisational decision-making in situations involving stakeholder consultation. Set in the context of decision-making following an airport master plan consultation, the study considers how the stakeholder framework can be integrated within institutional theory using institutional logics as a theoretical link between these two literatures. This thesis, which adopts a critical realist perspective, takes a comparative case approach of four airports, each owned in different ways. Interviews with airport managers are supplemented by discussions with stakeholders and industry experts. Two sets of a priori themes were identified from the literature. The first focuses on the institutional logics prevailing in the field and their influence on managers as they make decisions. The second considers four decision-making strategies managers might employ in this situation. Findings centre on the causal powers acting upon airport managers as they make their decisions. Whilst normative isomorphic pressure enables stakeholder consultation, the coercive pressure on the decision-making process deriving from English planning law, the adversarial and oscillating nature of Central Government policy, and a mimetic response to the nature of local authority development plans constrain the actions of airport managers. Indeed, the current bureaucratic form of capitalism limits stakeholder contribution to final master plans. This research makes four main contributions: Firstly, reflecting upon the agency-structure debate from a critical realist perspective has facilitated development of a model integrating the stakeholder framework within institutional theory. Secondly, it improves our understanding of how stakeholder contribution is managed in master planning. Thirdly, the study adds to the growing body of work that employs a critical realist perspective. Lastly, since reconciling conflicting stakeholder opinions may well be of vital importance to the future of the UK’s airport infrastructure, this work has practical significance for airport managers, government policy-makers and stakeholders as they strive to formulate worthwhile airport consultations.

In a society where the labour market is becoming increasingly knowledge intensive and more differentiated, education has assumed greater importance for the capitalist states integrative functions as for the competitiveness in the global economy. As a consequence, the educational system has become a key governing resource for the state to meet and manage different kinds of social changes and problems. Against this background the thesis raises the main question - “what kind of societal problems are the educational reforms studied here considered to be the solution of?” The aim of this thesis is to deepen the understanding of the changes of the formation of knowledge in Swedish upper secondary curriculum between the 1960s and 2010s. In what way attained these changes in view of knowledge legitimacy in relation to the socioeconomic context? And what do these changes mean in terms of the attribution of the positioning of upper secondary school pupils and teachers?   This thesis draws on a “classical” theoretical framework of curriculum theory (i.e. the frame-factor theory) this means that the analytical focus is directed at the relationship between the content of the curriculum and the social context. With theoretical and methodological inspiration from critical realism and critical discourse analysis (CDA) the thesis argue for an alternative way to theoretical and empirical examined this relationship. Three historical reform periods are used to explore the discursive changes in the formation of knowledge in the Swedish upper secondary education reforms.   The results show how changes in socioeconomic conditions, such as economic crisis, over time have acted as important triggers for governing mechanisms embedded in the control of the educational system. These changes and mechanisms, in turn, have resulted in some major discursive knowledge shifts between the reforms studied, from the 1960s combination of an economic-rational and an objective-subject knowledge discourse, through the deregulated goal-rational and socio-cultural oriented knowledge discourse of the 1990s towards the 2010s knowledge discourses that are characterized by an increased focus on learning outcomes and measurability. Against the background of these discursive shifts, the analysis also points to some underlying continuities in terms of a general “reform imperative”, based on a number of overarching values ​​such as efficiency and rationality. The result show how this imperative was embedded in all three educational reforms and has ruled the order of discourses about what was deemed to be legitimate curriculum knowledge, a professional teacher and a desirable pupil.

This thesis problematizes the concept of usefulness, in part by taking questions to the extreme. The starting point is the contemporary view of usefulness, a view that remains within a traditional paradigm of technical rationality in which important aspects are disregarded or not perceived because they are not part of the equation. For scrutiny of technological usefulness that is a socially situated phenomenon regarding physical systems, neither interpretivist nor positivist research approaches are sufficient. Both views are required. Critical Realism supports such duality, facilitating the combination of elements from different paradigms, and provides methodological guidelines for doing this. The critical realist approach makes it possible to transcend the boundaries of technical rationality and contribute an alternative definition of usefulness that takes into account also the situated, the contextual, and the unpredictable. The aim is that this definition will contribute to a transformation of society. Concepts related to usefulness, such as predictability, controllability, effectiveness, and safety, are revisited, redefined, or complemented. Underlying aspects and mechanisms are explored and tensions identified, resulting in a theoretical contribution with models and frameworks explaining what is argued to be the true nature of usefulness. Potentiality is suggested as a complementary concept to effectiveness, similar to how resilience complements safety. Situated usefulness is then defined using these four concepts. The phenomenon known as situation awareness is scrutinized as well, and complemented by system awareness and the thesis title concept, edge awareness. Four cases, two airline crashes and two nuclear power plant events, and three future scenarios, constitute the empirical contribution. The analysis shows that the contributed frameworks and redefinition of usefulness facilitate different or extended explanations of all four events, and that future cases lack considerations of situated usefulness. Research implications center on the human role and our responsibilities in relation to the technology that we use, and on the meaning of concepts defining this role. We are situated human beings. Our role is to be involved and responsible, a role requiring awareness and controllability. The escalating ubiquity and the character of computerized technological systems make therefore the quest for edge awareness more important than ever.

Contemporary theoretical and political approaches have sought to integrate both a material politics of redistribution and a cultural politics of recognition into a relational theoretical framework. Such frameworks consider the intersecting ways individuals and groups suffer from over-determining social inequalities that are rooted in the economic, cultural and political orders of society. In this thesis, I identify approaches that seek to explain the intersection between economic, cultural, and political variables as “integrated” theories of justice. At the forefront of integrated approaches that have cut across disciplinary and epistemological divides, I critically engage with Nancy Fraser’s integrated theory of justice (1995, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005). I also examine similar, yet alternative approaches advanced by Jacinda Swanson (2005) and others that have attempted to reconcile the economy/culture/politics relationship. I argue that while integrated theories of social justice provide a correction to previous “reductionist” and “essentializing” theories of social justice, they do not go far enough to capture the over-determining interconnections between economics, politics, culture, and agency. As a result, they are unable to adequately address the complexity of social inequalities. To address this problem in the literature, I re-work integrated theories of social justice that attempt to reconcile the economy/culture/politics divide through an integration with a realist meta-theoretical approach. A realist approach offers several theoretical, methodological and political gains for recasting complex theories of social justice.

The present dissertation develops a specific theory about everyday life called realist life mode theory. This theory is based on critical realism and consists of "work", "love" and "life mode" as central concepts. The background of the theory is the Danish life mode analysis developed by Thomas Højrup in the 1980:s. The aim of the study is to develop the central clusters of concepts in the realist life mode theory - i. e. "work", "love", "life mode" in a theoretical way. These concepts are seen as clusters since other related concepts are developed in connection to the concepts mentioned above. In connection to work I also discuss the concepts of "labour power", "labour receptor", and "work form"; in relation to love, "love power", "love receptor" and "love form" are discussed. And "life mode" is connected with the concept of "everyday life" in a more exact way than before. The argument of this study is that realist life mode theory is about two fundamental types of dominance - personal dominance and structural dominance. "Personal dominance" is used synonymously with "ownership". "Structural dominance" is dominance between non-personal, non-conscious entities. Life mode theory is a theory about ownership surrounded by structural dominances both beneath the owning person (sub-personally), and above (socially). Personal dominance - ownership - is produced via two human and societal processes - work and love. Work is defined as doing and occuring in the sphere of necessity. In work there especially are possibilities for ownership of the material surroundings. Love is defined as doing and occuring in the sphere of freedom. In love humans produce each other as self-owned persons through transaction of love power. Both work and love has great emancipatory potentials, and this theme is discussed in the present study. But, unfortunately, really existing work and love practices are to a great extent exploitative. Labour power is exploited in capitalism, and love power in patriarchy. When it comes to structural dominance, this study focuses on the following dominances: The dominance of labour receptor over labour power in men´s working life; the dominance of love power over love receptor in women´s love life. The dominance of work over love in men´s everyday life; the dominance of love over work in women´s everyday life. And on a more social level we find the following dominances: in the male life modes the work form dominates the love form. In female life modes the love form dominates the work form. And finally, in society as a whole male life modes have dominance over female life modes. When the dominance between social structures is analyzed, a distinction is made between "dominance form" and "the substance of dominance".

Over the last two decades, Australian higher education has undergone dramatic changes in purpose and orientation. Changes in public funding arrangements and concomitant policy statements have contributed to the reconceptualisation of Australian higher education, and internationalisation has become a core goal for Australian universities. In light of these dynamics, this study examined understandings of internationalisation within two Australian universities. The study examined the ways in which internationalisation was understood by university staff working in either a teaching capacity and/or a managerial position. Situated within the broad field of critical sociology, the study drew on critical realism (Bhaskar, 1979, 1989), critical epistemology (Carspecken, 1996) and reflexive sociology (Bourdieu, 1972, 1990) to analyse how the universities and their staff positioned themselves in relation to the goal of internationalisation. Furthermore, the study examined how this goal served to reposition the institution and/or various forms of university work. The insights of critical social theory were used to examine the contested power relations associated with the growing importance attributed to the goal of internationalisation in Australian higher education. The significance of the study resides in its recognition of the ways in which academic and non-academic subcultures within the university contribute to the goal of internationalisation. Whereas previous research viewed divergence of understandings as weakening the commitment given to internationalisation as an institutional goal, this study has shown that such diversity stems from the differential encounters with and experiences of internationalisation. Moreover, in previous research, the pre-determined objectives for internationalisation resulted in the compartmentalisation of this goal, as in economic objectives and academic objectives. In contrast, this study focused on the dynamic and evolving nature of internationalisation in higher education. Consequently, the study's contribution lies in its explanation of the long term benefits to be derived from viewing internationalisation as a dynamic and generative phenomenon, rather than simply as a pre-determined goal. A case study approach was used in this research with two contrasting onshore Australian universities selected as the case sites. One institution had a reputation as an elite, research intensive university. The other was a post-Dawkins university with a strong vocational orientation. At each site, semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff from across the university's hierarchy. Interviewees included the Pro Vice-Chancellor for the Office of Internationalisation, the Chair of the Academic Board, the Director of the Teaching and Learning Support Unit, Faculty Deans, Heads of Departments, as well as departmental staff concerned with first year teaching. Departmental staff were drawn from two disciplinary areas, Australian History and Marketing. Interviews engaged participants in discussion about the processes by which internationalisation was enacted. Furthermore, university documents, such as the Strategic Plan, were analysed in terms of how the given institution constructed the need for internationalisation and the means by which this goal was to be achieved. The study found that internationalisation involves and promotes constant adaptability. The two institutions used whatever resources they had to develop and promote their international aspirations. The international visions of the institutions were influenced by both their historical and intended relationship with the broader higher education world. The elite, research intensive institution viewed internationalisation with becoming a university of international standing. This institution used its bureaucratic and hierarchical nature to advance its objectives for internationalisation. The vocationally oriented university had developed an internationalisation policy with a view to maximising the revenue to be derived from its diverse international activities and to gaining greater prestige within the higher education field. Staff involved with managerial and/or teaching work were found to develop their ideas about internationalisation through a combination of personal and professional experiences. The study confirmed the growing trend for academics to assume managerial roles in addition to their teaching and research. Consequently, accounts of internationalisation were not necessarily confined to a purely managerial or an academic perspective. Furthermore, the accounts of internationalisation differed between and within the two selected disciplines. On the one hand, specific disciplinary attributes could be seen by the academics interviewed as inherently international, even though they may not assist in realising institutional objectives for internationalisation. On the other, academics spoke of the perceived need for the frames of reference used in undergraduate education to be broadened, given the globalised nature of contemporary society and/or the increasing international enrolments. The study concluded that internationalisation is an important means by which the localised priorities of an institution, an academic department, and/or of individuals can engage with forms of global mobility. Moreover, the study argued the need for all staff and students in Australian higher education to see themselves as part of the processes of internationalisation. This latter point raises questions about the personal and professional attributes required of academics when working within internationalised Australian universities.

This thesis develops a critical realist explanatory critique of alternative schooling programs for youth at risk taking place at three case study sites. Throughout the thesis the author pursues the question, \Are alternative provisions of schooling working academically and socially for youth at risk?. The academic lens targets literacy learning and associated pedagogies. Social outcomes are posited as positive social behaviours and continued engagement in learning. A four phased analysis, drawing on critical realism, interpretive and subject specific theories is used to elicit explanations for the research question. An overall framework is a critical realist methodology as set out by Danermark, Ekstrom, Jakobsen and Karlsson (2002, p. 129). Consequently phase one describes the phenomena of alternative schooling programs taking place at three case study sites. This is reported first as staff narratives that are resolved into imaginable historical causal components of \generative events., \prior schooling structures., \models of alternative schooling., \purpose., \individual agency., and \relations with linked community organisations.. Then transcendental questions are posed about each component using retroduction to uncover structures, underlying mechanisms and powers, and individual agency. In the second phase the researcher uses modified grounded theory methodology to theoretically redescribe causal categories related to a \needed different teaching and administrative approach. that emerged from the previous critique. A transcendental question is then applied to this redescription. The research phenomena are again theoretically redescribed in the third phase, this time using three theoretically based constructs associated with literacy and literacy pedagogies; the NRS, the 4 Resources Model, and Productive Pedagogies. This redescription is again questioned in terms of its core or \necessary. components. The fourth phase makes an explanatory critique by comparing and critiquing all previous explanations, recontextualising them in a wider macro reality of alternative schooling. Through this critical realist explanatory critiquing process, a response emerges not only to whether alternative provisions of schooling are working, but also how they are working, and how they are not working, with realistically based implications for future improvement.