Indigenous women experience intimate partner violence (IPV) at a disproportionate and epidemic rate. A common thread among indigenous women's experiences is that of colonization, which has been linked to both IPV and other social ills. Many tools of domination and control used throughout colonization to subjugate and oppress indigenous peoples are consistent with the tactics of power and control used in IPV. Given the distinct history of colonization along with the absence of research on indigenous women from the Southeastern portion of the United States, the purpose of this critical ethnography was to understand the culture and context of IPV for women from a Southeastern tribe across the life course. Because they complimented and supplemented each other in their ability to increase understanding about indigenous women' experiences with IPV, critical theory, historical trauma, life course theory, and resilience theory guided this qualitative inquiry. Paulo Freire's vision of critical theory was used to conceptualize this dissertation within the specific historical context. Using Carspecken's critical ethnographic method, the relevant data collected for this study included 28 participant observation sessions with indigenous community members and 28 life histories with indigenous women. Data analysis followed Carpsecken's method of reconstructive analysis. The patterns of power and domination at the societal, community, and interpersonal levels were identified with the broader beliefs that might perpetuate IPV across generations. Results included key factors within the specific historical context of indigenous women that had salient linkage to IPV. The potential symptoms of historical loss and trauma, including alcohol abuse, IPV, and family breakdown, were highlighted. Women's emergent pattern of violence that occurred across the life course was delineated within the culturally specific family structure. Women's perceptions of experiences with the formal and informal support systems were explored. Likewise, the various coping strategies of women who experienced IPV were identified along with the culturally specific protective and risk factors across multiple levels. Women's suggestions for emancipation from oppression were highlighted along with the implications for social work practice and policy.

Esta dissertação explora a obra de Theodor W. Adorno dando enfoque às questões concernentes à moral, articulando problemas de filosofia da história e sua dimensão política. O texto divide-se em três capítulos: o primeiro trata do diagnóstico de época do qual partimos, a saber, o mundo tal como ele se configurou após a Segunda Guerra Mundial. O segundo capítulo explora a dimensão prática ética e política imanente ao conceito de verdade na tradição da teoria crítica, de modo a considerar sua centralidade no âmbito de uma discussão sobre a moral. O terceiro capítulo, intitulado Antinomias da moral, disserta sobre a abordagem adorniana de problemas tradicionalmente vinculados à filosofia moral a partir de uma leitura da Minima Moralia, da Dialética Negativa e de Problemas de filosofia moral. / This dissertation explores the work of Theodor W. Adorno, shedding light at the problems regarding moral philosophy in an articulation with an interpretation of history and its political dimension. The text contains three chapters: the first one deals with the diagnosis of time of the post-war world. The second chapter explores the practical ethical and political dimension which is immanent to the truth concept employed in the tradition of critical theory, so that we can consider its centrality in the discussion on moral philosophy. The third chapter, entitled Antinomies of morals, discusses Adornos approach of traditional problems of moral philosophy, based mostly on an interpretation of his works Minima Moralia and Negative Dialectics, and his lectures.

House Resolution 109 mandates the duty of the United States Federal Government to the people of the United States to create a Green New Deal to combat the triple crises that people are currently facing. In order to understand this mandate and whether or not it is calling for sustainable changes, a discourse analysis was used to examine the discourse as text, interaction and context. This study seeks to fill in a gap of missing literature about House Resolution 109 due to its recent creation. The results show that while author Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez emphasizes her beliefs of democratic socialism throughout the text as well as economic-based solution, the document lacks strong sustainability and fails to address the intricacies of sustainable development.

This dissertation considers the “strategic naturalism” of Sandra Harding’s standpoint theory in the philosophy of science, and it should be applied to epistemology. Strategic naturalism stipulates that all elements of inquiry are historically and culturally situated, and thereby subject to critical reflection, analysis, and revision. Allegiance to naturalism is de rigueur, yet there is no clear agreement on the term’s meaning. Harding’s standpoint theory reads the lack of definition as indicative of its generative possibilities for epistemic progress. The driving question is why Harding’s approach has not been considered a viable candidate for determining progress in epistemology. Beyond the fact that epistemic labor, in its scientific and non-scientific forms, is a social activity, Harding’s approach recognizes that it is situated in and reinforced by a broader network of social institutions, beliefs, and practices. Harding’s strategic naturalism would invigorate epistemology by increasing the awareness, acceptance, and respect for epistemic difference and drive epistemic progress that not only acknowledges pluralistic ways of knowing but also gives a more accurate account of the knowing subject. Chapter one is a discussion of non-naturalized epistemology and Quinean Naturalized Epistemology (QNE), framed by Harding’s historical account of the related projects of modern epistemology and science. This chapter highlights two important issues. The first issue is that epistemology is more complex than the story Quine offers. The second, and decisive issue is that the shared history of modern epistemology and science demonstrates the influence of social and cultural values on that history, and the long shadows they cast on naturalism debates in epistemology, science, and philosophy of science. Chapter two is an exegetical account of the origins of and motivations for critical feminist responses to both the received epistemological theory and QNE discussed in chapter one. The justifications for the feminist critiques and the problematic issues that motivate these critiques provide the backdrop for the initial, positive response to QNE, as well as their disenchantment with Quine’s influential proposal. Ultimately, feminist epistemologists and philosophers of science assess QNE as not naturalized enough to address their concerns. Chapter three considers several feminist standpoint theories to show that they are more naturalistic and better at providing a multi-faceted theory that is based on actual scientific practice, and re-introduces social values and interests as having a positive influence on epistemology and philosophies of science. This chapter shows that given the closely shared histories and assumptions of modern epistemology and science, FSE would be a viable resource for a more naturalistic epistemology. The final chapter argues that the project of naturalizing epistemology could incorporate FSE insights and the positive role FSE’s controversiality would play in naturalizing epistemology and philosophies of science. If we are to take seriously the concept of situatedness and what that entails, then naturalism must also be situated, and revisited with a critical and reflective eye. The implications on both our epistemic theories and our accounts of what kinds of knowing subject we are would foster epistemic progress.

For the researcher, education is concerned fundamentally with the notion of human emancipation. In other words, it is only worth the name if it forms people capable of taking part in their own liberation. Education policy in South Africa prior to African National Congress victory in 1994 was dominated by the ideology of apartheid which led to a variety of malpractices in defining the role and status of education. The ANC victory in South Africa ushered in a period of awakening from a situation of oppression to the establishment of alternative education structures promising a redress of past imbalances through equality, justice and democracy as fundamental human rights. While the ANC policy documents may serve South African society in an educative way, it is equally important that this also implies, at a practical level, an increase in collective learning levels. This has to be done in ways that are undistorted and ways that do not devolve all authority to experts. As a preliminary to improving practices, it is vital to penetrate below the surface of the ANC policy documents to understand the true nature of things found to expose internal and external contradictions and distortions. As Durkheim (1994) says why strive for knowledge of reality if this knowledge cannot serve us in life. This implies that the pursuit of knowledge is of little value unless it can serve our interests as social and cultural beings. This thesis aims to examine the role played by the Reconstruction and Development Policy in South Africa's education system. It questions the viability of implementing the policies as set out in the policy documents, which the African National Congress claim to be derived from critical theory. The focus was on the reconstruction of the central and decisive events that have had implications for present educational policy and development. A methodological tool derived from critical theory was applied since it provided a form of meta-critique with an emancipatory rather than manipulative interest in criticism. Critical theory hence became a method of rational valuing and a powerful tool of internal and external criticism with the potential for use in practical as well as theoretical research. It thus becomes of value not only to a policy-maker but to a researcher or classroom practitioner as well. With regards to South Africa's present status, critical theory offers us a clear, less-distorted picture of how things are and at least suggests through transcendence of the existent, the possibility of how things may be different. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

One of the most exciting recent developments in the social sciences has been the rapid formulation and acceptance of evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology (EP) theory informs us that the human mind has certainly evolved and innate mechanisms have been shaped by our ancient social history. Consequently, specifically-evolved mental mechanisms exist that assist the human mind in dealing with complex social phenomena, such as cooperation. Evolutionary psychology theorists posit that for human beings to maximise the benefits of cooperation there need to be efficient ways for individuals to determine whether other members of the social group are operating equitably. Central to successful human cooperation, therefore, we find, amongst others, crucial concepts such as fairness, trust, autonomy, reciprocity, democracy and social recognition.Because the associated mental mechanisms have evolved over millennia they are largely hardwired into the human brain, are relatively slow to evolve, and have not been able to keep pace with the vast and rapid social change brought about through modernity and industrialism. We are left struggling, therefore, with psychological stressors that exist because of the resultant mismatches.This research study considers moral ethics within the workplace as an important component of quality of worklife (QWL), and suggests a new view be taken through the lenses provided by evolutionary psychology theory. This is done specifically with respect to the ethics of a social environment (the business community) that is often quite alienating to our socially evolved minds. This study was conducted with reference to business ethics specifically and it highlights the incongruent landscape lying between that and personal moral ethics. Through the application of social critical theory, it challenges the orthodoxy concerning the relationships between personal liberty, justice and the neo-liberal market economy. It also illuminates the reasons why it is important for business ethics and personal ethics to be brought closer together, and it suggests redefining QWL as a way of bringing about this paradigmatic shift.

My aim in this study is to develop more theoretically informed praxis - and practically informed theory - about two seminal questions:

This research examines interventions with adolescents in out-of-home care diagnosed with severe conduct disorder. Interventions from the service sectors of mental health, juvenile justice, child protection and welfare are reviewed and discussed. The research centred around three hypotheses. Firstly, that adolescents in out-of-home care diagnosed with severe conduct disorder have poor treatment outcomes. Secondly, that adolescents in out-of-home care diagnosed with severe conduct disorder are a particularly difficult client group to work with because of issues of attachment. Thirdly, that a diagnosis of severe conduct disorder negatively impacts upon the work professionals undertake with these young people. These hypotheses were considered in the context of an extensive literature review as well as findings gleaned from interviews and questionnaires conducted with research participants drawn from the abovementioned service sectors. Research participants were senio r practitioners and managers with many years of practice and experience working with adolescents in out-of-home care diagnosed with severe conduct disorder. The main findings from the research were that all three hypotheses appeared to be supported. These were that adolescents in out-of-home care diagnosed with severe conduct disorder have poor treatment outcomes and that one of the particular difficulties of working with this client group is the issue of attachment. Also, that the diagnosis of severe conduct disorder negatively impacts upon the work professionals undertake with these young people. These findings are discussed within the theoretical frameworks of attachment theory and critical theory, which are utilised in exploring the alienation and oppression of these young people on intrapersonal, interpersonal and societal levels. Finally, implications for social work research and practice are considered.

<p>Background: The forthcoming shortage of labor, due amongst other things to demographical issues and the increasing mobility of people on the labor market, will affect the possibilities to attract and retain employees with valuable key competencies. To win the talent war employer branding has arisen to become a strategy to overcome this threat. </p><p>Purpose: To investigate and analyze the outside perspective of employer branding – the employer image – of a knowledge intensive organization through a study of AstraZeneca. Course of action: An approach based on critical theory has been used to generate results, including both quantitative and qualitative methods. </p><p>Results: The workforce is at risk of becoming a scarce resource and the situation seems to be most alarming in areas related to natural sciences, and the pharmaceutical industry in particular. The employer image of AstraZeneca has been found to be very positive, showing high ratings of brand recognition and employer of choice, but the underlying reasons for these results have not been proven. Attraction between employer and employee could occur if the individual is able to see how to reach self-fulfillment through contributing to the company purpose.</p>

<p>Avhandlingen söker svara på två förberedande frågor: hur man kan tolka Theodor W. Adornos kritiska teori idag? Samt hur en sådan tolkning kan göras relevant för aktuell teologisk problematik?</p>