This dissertation compares the work and life of secondary public-school teachers in Ontario with different labour contracts during a time of crisis. The COVID public health crisis along with neoliberalism, the defunding of public education, and a climate crisis have all influenced governmental policies and the labour process of public secondary teachers in Ontario. The influences that different contracts can have on the labour process of teachers, how they feel towards their union, and the impacts on their individual health and household wellbeing before and during the first year of the COVID pandemic is the focus of this dissertation. To help explore these contexts and the influences on the life and labour of public secondary teachers in Ontario with different contracts, I have used research from studies in Labour Process Theory, precarious work, and educational labour to inform my analysis. Along with those areas of discourse, I have also used insights from research into Critical Realism and Thematic Analysis to think through and discuss the differences between the teachers I interviewed and connect their experiences with work, their union, and their individual health and household well-being to larger systems, structures, and histories. The interviews conducted revealed three points of interest: that precarious labour contracts can function as a disciplinary device, that larger contexts outside the contract shaped how the contract was experienced, and that teachers’ unions can act as a source of solidarity and security during a crisis and when there are certain associations with its purpose. This exploratory research aims to open up future areas of research into educational labour and differences between the experiences of educators with different contracts. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This project explored the differences between public secondary teachers with different contracts in Ontario before and during the COVID pandemic. It involved an online survey to help recruit participants and interviews with 36 teachers who were recruited from the online survey. Of the 36 teachers, 13 had permanent contracts, 16 had long term occasional (LTO) contracts, and 7 had occasional teaching (OT) contracts. The interviews and analysis revealed three points of interest: that precarious labour contracts in a tiered relationship with secure contracts can function as a disciplinary device, that larger contexts outside the contract shaped how the contract was experienced, and that teachers’ unions can act as a source of solidarity and security during a crisis and when there are certain associations with its purpose. Teachers with different contracts had uniquely different experiences with their work, their union, and their individual health and household wellbeing before and during COVID.

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Fysisk aktivitet som behandling mot depression har ett växande forskningsstöd. Denna uppsats utforskar vilka möjligheter och svårigheter som framkommer i psykologers beskrivning av att använda fysisk aktivitet som behandling. Vi gjorde semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta psykologer och använde en reflexiv tematisk analytisk metod. Vi fann att fysisk aktivitet framstår både som en lösning och samtidigt ganska problematiskt vilket fångas i det övergripande temat: Fysisk aktivitet har löst problem, eller inte som vi utforskar i fyra teman. Analysen visar hur fysisk aktivitet förstås genom idéer om objektivitet, medicinska teorier och psykologiska teorier eller modeller såsom beteendeaktivering. Vi undersöker också de problem som uppstår i psykologens vardag med fysisk aktivitet som intervention. Analysen innefattar även hur psykologens roll i vården ser ut och hur psykologer navigerar den i relation till fysisk aktivitet som är något olika yrkeskategorier i vården kan använda. Detta för att kunna bidra till diskussionen om hur rekommendationer utformas genom att ställa frågan: Fysisk aktivitet för vem? / Physical activity is a widely acknowledged and used intervention for treating depression. This study explores possibilities and difficulties in psychologists’ accounts of using physical activity in everyday practice. We investigated how eight psychologists described physical activity in everyday practice using a semi-structured approach. We used reflexive thematic analysis methodology to interpret data and identify how physical activity appears to provide both a solution and new problems to the psychologists. We capture an idea where physical activity isa solution of problems, or not and explore this idea in four themes. We explore how physical activity is made sense of through ideas of objectivity, medical theories and psychological theories or models as behavioral activation, but also potential problems that arise in the everyday practice of psychologists. Our analysis could be viewed as exploring how psychologists navigate their role in the everyday health care promoting physical activity. The result could also be part of discussions in policy making, raising the question: physical activityon whose terms?

Text in German with abstracts in German and English / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 222-239) / Vorliegende missionstheologische Untersuchung geht aus von David J. Boschs ökumenischem Missionsparadigma als Vorschlag für ein ganzheitliches Missionsverständnis mit den Brennpunk-ten Verkündigung und soziales Engagement in einer postmodernen Welt. Auf der Suche nach einer geschichtsbezogenen Eschatologie als Grundlage und motivierende Hoffnung für die Kirche in ih-rer Mission, verweist Bosch mit einiger Zurückhaltung auf die heilsgeschichtliche Theologie seines Lehrers Oscar Cullmann. Die Arbeit setzt sich daher in einem ersten Teil kritisch mit unterschied-lichen eschatologischen Entwürfen und insbesondere mit Cullmanns Eschatologie und deren Impli-kationen auf das Missionsverständnis auseinander. Im Anschluss wird danach gefragt, ob und in-wiefern die Theologie von N.T. Wright die cullmannsche Eschatologie in Sinne von Bosch zu er-weitern vermag. Es wird schliesslich deutlich, dass Wrights eschatologischer Ansatz eine tragfähi-gere Grundlage für ein ganzheitliches Missionsverständnis darstellt, als derjenige von Cullmann. Die Untersuchung will einen Beitrag leisten zur Auseinandersetzung mit der Eschatologie und gleichzeitig Wrights Theologie aus missionstheologischer Perspektive kritisch würdigen. / This missionary-theological investigation takes as its point of departure David J. Bosch’s ecumeni-cal missionary paradigm as a proposal for a holistic understanding of mission with a focus on pro-clamation and social engagement in a postmodern world. In the search for an eschatology related to history as a foundation and motivating hope for the church in its mission, Bosch refers with some reservation to the salvation historical theology of his teacher Oscar Cullmann. Accordingly, the first part of the work is devoted to a critical engagement with different eschatological conceptions and especially with Cullmann’s eschatology and its implications for the understanding of mission. After this, we then ask whether and to what extent the theology of N.T. Wright can expand the Cullman-nian eschatology in the sense of Bosch. It becomes clear in the end that Wright’s eschatological approach represents a more viable foundation for a holistic understanding of mission than that of Cullmann. The study aims to contribute to the debate over eschatology and at the same to present a critical appraisal of Wright’s theology from a missionary-theological perspective. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

Financial exclusion is a major developmental problem. Perception has it that financial exclusion emanates from the lack of access to banking and financial services, and the general understanding is that ICT-based access to such services is the solution. In this research, which was undertaken in Ghana, Critical Realism (CR) revealed deeper causes (generative mechanisms) that underlie financial exclusion. The research followed a mixed-method approach. The CR approach guided the research to create an initial model from which hypotheses were deduced and tested; the design science approach, guided the research to create the design theory and an instantiation of an application that uses the design theory; and the quantitative method, was used to evaluate the hypotheses. CR revealed how, in a credit economy, people have a need for credit to pursue business or education opportunities. The generative mechanisms identified have revealed how the credit market for the unbanked includes the reality that a wellfunctioning credit market is self-sustaining with two mechanisms: signalling and adoption. The signalling mechanism facilitates users’ access to credit, which they in turn are able to spend on more services. On the other hand, the adoption mechanism enables the development of more services making the market more valuable, thus attracting more users in a self-feeding loop. The key findings suggest that being banked does not necessarily lead to financial inclusion and financial wellbeing. Transactional banking only serves as an "enrichment agenda for the banks", with minimal benefit to the people. There are also other non-financial technologies such as sharing and social technologies that have an effect on the provision of credit; in addition to their main purpose of saving and/or earning income, for the unbanked, by sharing resources. In Ghana, despite having bank accounts, most of the banked do not use them, because of cost and inappropriate services. This research reveals that the unexamined notion of being banked as a fundamental requirement for financial inclusion may require further investigation. The research has found that the unbanked keeping to themselves and the use of cash creates anonymity and makes them invisible to formal financial institutions, who prefer identity over anonymity, thus contributing to their financial exclusion. The following design needs were identified: inexpensive credit and value-added services such as saving groups, financial accounting services, service to report delinquent customers and education. The research offers a conceptualization of a financial inclusion ICT artefact to draw attention to the multifaceted and complex environment financial inclusion effort is immersed. This calls for an integrated approach since the issues with financial exclusion extend beyond financials and have an effect on the broader society. The research, therefore, proposes a substantive framework for improving the design and development of financial inclusive systems, which helps build trust using obligation transactions. It offers an approach to computing an individual’s financial inclusiveness, which also helps safeguard his/her financial wellbeing. The thesis makes a contribution to Information Systems theory in proposing a framework on financial inclusion using ICT. The contribution to practice is the design of an ICT artefact. / School of Computing / Ph. D. (Computer Science)

This dissertation examines collaborations between the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and non-union elements of global civil society (GCS). GCS is presented as a crucial emergent site of transnational class formation, and ITUC collaborations within this field are treated as potentially important moments in transnational class formation. The goal of the dissertation is threefold. It seeks to 1) address the lacuna in GCS studies around the involvement of organized labour; 2) provide an analysis of what ITUC GCS collaborations mean for the remit and repertoire of action of the ITUC; and 3) provide an analysis of the impact of ITUC collaborations on transnational class formation. What the findings show is that the ITUC is heavily engaged in GCS through numerous collaborations with non-union organizations concerned with environmental degradation, human rights, global economic inequality, and women workers. Most significantly, collaboration within GCS has provided the ITUC an avenue to incorporate the needs of marginalized women workers whose work does not “fit” into the traditional model of trade union organizing. These findings lead to the conclusion that these collaborations have allowed the ITUC to expand the remit of its activities beyond “bread-and-butter” unionism, and expand its repertoire of action beyond interstate diplomacy. However, the findings do not support the idea that the ITUC has adopted a social movement framework, although it is clear that the ethos of social movement unionism has had an impact on the organization. Nonetheless, the dissertation concludes that the incorporation of marginalized women workers, and the active engagement of the ITUC in global environmental policy debates, signifies a new moment in transnational class formation. / Graduate / 0629 / 0703 / davidbhuxtable@gmail.com

As an innovation Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is designed as a tool for clinical problem solving. According to its theory of use EBP will bring a difference for policy makers, for professionals, for researchers and for service users. One question to be asked is whether EBP actually leads to the radical social change it is designed to accomplish. The aim of the study is to describe and analyse the outcome of the effort to establish EBP, with a focus on the case of social work in Sweden. The research questions are: What is EBP? Why are efforts made to establish EBP? What is the outcome of the EBP project? How can the outcome of the EBP project be explained? The case study was conducted on a critical realistic meta-theoretical ground with a focus on explanation of social change with an explicit actor-structure perspective. Methodologically, a narrative synthesis of studies was made. As a complement primary data were collected to fill empirical gaps. The state of things was described before and after the EBP-initiatives. Several helping theories – Kuhn’s theory of paradigm, program theory, neo-institutional theory and theory of diffusion – were used to analyse the empirically mapped outcome of the EBP project. The results show that the import of the original model of Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) to social work is a part of a wider social movement in the helping and educational professions. The new model has influenced social work as a discipline, as a field of practice and as a field of policy. There are examples of full-scale implementations of EBP, although EBP has not reached a general status as daily practice. Some obstacles remain. The gradual adaption of EBP corresponds to criteria hold by Kuhn for a paradigm shift. Acceptance of the model has contributed to change the structure and function of social systems. At an organizational level, this change means on-going institutionalization. The innovation is influencing the way institutional actors conduct their work. Although the structural conditions have been optimal, the EBP-model has been debated with heat. The EBP-debate and policy-driven infrastructural efforts have brought a more in-depth examination of the model. So-called coercive, normative, and regulative isomorphisms were used to change organizations. The degree of institutionalization depended on the individuals and the organizations willingness and preparedness to change, to understand, and to put the model into practice. When actors used a less strict version of the original EBP model, the pace of cultural and institutional change slowed down.

Abstract: During the past decade, media researchers have intensified the study of media scandals and the role of journalism as an institution that holds social actors responsible for malfeasance and wrongdoings. On a micro level of analysis, the main attention has beendirected towards the journalistic interview and its use to promote the impression of guilt and journalistic neutrality. However, such studies have not been able to address the editing dimension of TV journalism that transforms conversation to another type of communicativepractice – that of communication through TV-flows composed of speech sequences, pictures,and sounds. This doctoral thesis develops a theoretical framework for analysis of the functions of editing inthe process of guilt attribution by journalistic TV-flows – e.g. investigative TV reporting. The purpose is also to contribute to an understanding of the relationship between the communicative competences of viewers and the contextualization of speech acts through the composition of TV-flows. The developed perspective consists of three parts: 1) A division of viewers’ reception of TV-flows in two types of interpersonal relations (to a speaker and to the composer) that involves six levels of cognitive activities. This division is based on the Habermasian notion of communicative rationality; 2) An intent-model, that lists communicative intentions expressed by the composer when speech sequences are merged and pictures are inserted; 3) A guilt-model, that encompasses guilt as a mental structure of ontologically separated elements (e.g. deed,intention, norm) and the associative relations that the viewer uses to create a meaningful whole– a fabula of guilt. The conveyed analysis of three cases of investigative reporting illustrates how the developed framework can be applied in the study of guilt attribution. The analyses also describe several compositional strategies by which the viewer is encouraged to make certain meaning, evaluate, and judge. The strategies concern the following areas: promotion of certain understanding of speech, promotion of certain evaluation of the validity claims, and promotion of certain understanding of the speaker’s intentions. Also strategies of positioning of the reporter in constructed discourses, that enhance the impression of her performances and argumentation, are explored. Furthermore, the composer’s strategies for masking intentions to interfere with the speech acts, by increasing intent ambiguity, are described. The guilt-model is used to understand the workings of the TV-flow on an overreaching level of meaning (the fabula level). Here, the analysis explains the interplay between portrayed intentions and acts, and the different ways in which condemning norms can be activated and highlighted. Furthermore, the model explores the possible employment of categorization in theprocess of guilt attribution (e.g. when properties of an individual are transferred to a group). In sum, this thesis contributes to a new way of understanding the reception of current affairs programs and TV journalism, as relation building between composer and viewer, by means of contextualization of speech acts.

As an innovation Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is designed as a tool for clinical problem solving. According to its theory of use EBP will bring a difference for policy makers, for professionals, for researchers and for service users. One question to be asked is whether EBP actually leads to the radical social change it is designed to accomplish. The aim of the study is to describe and analyse the outcome of the effort to establish EBP, with a focus on the case of social work in Sweden. The research questions are: What is EBP? Why are efforts made to establish EBP? What is the outcome of the EBP project? How can the outcome of the EBP project be explained? The case study was conducted on a critical realistic meta-theoretical ground with a focus on explanation of social change with an explicit actor-structure perspective. Methodologically, a narrative synthesis of studies was made. As a complement primary data were collected to fill empirical gaps. The state of things was described before and after the EBP-initiatives. Several helping theories – Kuhn’s theory of paradigm, program theory, neo-institutional theory and theory of diffusion – were used to analyse the empirically mapped outcome of the EBP project. The results show that the import of the original model of Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) to social work is a part of a wider social movement in the helping and educational professions. The new model has influenced social work as a discipline, as a field of practice and as a field of policy. There are examples of full-scale implementations of EBP, although EBP has not reached a general status as daily practice. Some obstacles remain. The gradual adaption of EBP corresponds to criteria hold by Kuhn for a paradigm shift. Acceptance of the model has contributed to change the structure and function of social systems. At an organizational level, this change means on-going institutionalization. The innovation is influencing the way institutional actors conduct their work. Although the structural conditions have been optimal, the EBP-model has been debated with heat. The EBP-debate and policy-driven infrastructural efforts have brought a more in-depth examination of the model. So-called coercive, normative, and regulative isomorphisms were used to change organizations. The degree of institutionalization depended on the individuals and the organizations willingness and preparedness to change, to understand, and to put the model into practice. When actors used a less strict version of the original EBP model, the pace of cultural and institutional change slowed down.

This dissertation studies the development of the environmental issue from a discursive perspective. Through an analysis of views on nature and the environment in several NGOs and main political organs, the dissertation tries to explain how a certain view became hegemonic. The analysis pertains to the period between the publication of Silent Spring in 1962 and the introduction of the concept sustainable development by the UN in 1987. From a realistic starting point and with critical discourse analysis (CDA) as its method, the dissertation aims to identify causal powers and mechanisms that have generated and institutionalized the environmental discourse. An analytical model is developed and applied on three levels; a sociolinguistic, institutional, and macrosocial level; which also reflect the methodological progression of the study from description to explanation. The result shows that the discursive practice was hegemonized by a Western view promoting economic growth. This discourse gradually gained ground at the expense of an anti-systemic discourse which posited structural societal changes as the answer to environmental problems. Mechanisms such as the exclusion of some views and actors from common discursive practices were crucial for the process of homogenizing the discourse and developing consensus. Through incorporating that part of the environmental movement which did not fight the dominant economic and political system, the UN turned it into support for its own project, which is part of the process of hegemony. At the same time the environmental objectives of the hegemonic discourse were established in the institutional spheres. The institutionalization of the environmental issue changed the focus from social critique to a question of development and technology, something which helped displace the original critical and partially anti-systemic character of environmental discourse. Through turning the critical and negative account of the situation into a more harmonious and hopeful vision, for instance in terms of sustainable development, a foundation was laid for the later development of ecological modernization. When the hegemonic discourse invested the concept of sustainable development with emphases on progress and economic growth, it encapsulated the environmental issue within the framework of the prevailing social system. / <p>With summary in English and Spanish/Con resumen en inglés y en español</p>