published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The aim of this study has been to highlight and describe the perceptions of beggars, by studying and analyzing empirical data collected through observing different threads on a Swedish discussion forum. We wanted to study how beggars are mentioned in the discussion forum to illustrate the opinions and perceptions. To analyze the data a qualitative method of meaning condensation were used. The result was analyzed from a perspective of deviant behavior and three theories: Goffman's theory about Stigma, Beckers labelling theory and the theory about the established and the outsiders by Elias. The results showed that beggars are categorized and described as criminals, misfits and frauds. The results also gave us the conclusion that there are negative attitudes towards beggars.

Syftet av denna kvalitativa studie var att undersöka hur karaktärer som framställs med psykisk ohälsa porträtteras i skräckfilm samt hur de övriga karaktärerna i filmerna förhåller sig till dem. Med hjälp av semiotiska analysverktyg, neoformalism och stereotypiska kategorier som teori och metod avslöjade vi underliggande meningar i filmerna genom att observera karaktärernas beteende och estetiska egenskaper i bakgrunden. Analysen delades upp i tre kategorier; porträttering av avvikande beteende, omgivningens förhållningssätt och miljö, detta för att göra det enklare att få fram ett resultat. Materialet bestod av filmerna The Shining (1980) och Lights Out (2016) och valdes eftersom båda filmerna porträtterar karaktärer med psykisk ohälsa. Resultatet påvisade att det i båda utvalda karaktärernas beteende går att identifiera samtliga av de utvalda stereotyper som presenterats i teorikapitlet. Det framkom även att majoriteten av de konnotationer som identifierades var negativa vilket även speglades i omgivningens förhållningssätt till karaktärerna. The Shining visade en större skillnad gällande positiva och negativa konnotationer som identifierats mellan början och slutet av filmen medan Lights Out inte visade någon förändring. / The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how characters with mental illnesses are portrayed in horror movies and also the other characters attitude towards them. With the help of semiotic analyzing tools, neoformalism and stereotypical categories as both theory and method did we discover the underlaying meanings of the movies by observing the characters behavior and aesthetic characteristics in the background. The analysis was split in three categories; portrayal of deviant behavior, the other characters attitude towards the characters and environment, this to make it easier to get a result. The material consisted of the movies The Shining (1980) and Lights Out (2016) and were chosen since both movies portray characters with mental illnesses. The result did show that in both of the chosen characters behaviors was it possible to identify all of the stereotypes presented earlier in the theory chapter. It also appeared that the majority of all connotations that were identified was negative which was also reflected in the surrounding characters attitude towards the chosen characters. The Shining showed a bigger difference regarding positive and negative connotations between the beginning and ending of the movie while Lights Out barely showed any difference between them at all.

Absenteeism has a negative impact on organizational output in the form of lost productivity and profit reduction for software engineering companies. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to explore the strategies that software engineering managers utilize for reducing absenteeism. The theory of planned behavior formed the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews from a purposeful sample of 11 managers at an international custom software engineering company. Data collection also included organizational data on employee absences for the past 5 years (2011-2015), e-mail memos, newsletters, employee handbook, and employee performance reviews. Based on methodological triangulation of the data sources and inductive analysis of the data, 4 themes emerged. Emergent themes from the analysis revealed that communication was key to reducing absenteeism, flexible work hours and working from home reduced absence, comradery and employee support positively impacted absenteeism, and that there was a lack of a clear and formal processes for addressing employee absenteeism. These findings suggest that, at this company, an absenteeism reduction strategy could help reduce employee absenteeism to lessen the negative impact on organizational productivity and profitability. These findings may contribute to social change by providing a template for effective absenteeism reduction strategies that managers can use to promote a decreased incidence of absenteeism, organizational profitability, reduction of the unemployment rate, employee stress, and mental health problems.

In recent years, studies have discussed the abusive supervision behavior in the organizations. Especially, supervisors¡¦ abusive supervision behaviors were believed to have negative effects on subordinates. However, the relationship between supervisors¡¦ abusive supervision behaviors, subordinates¡¦ work-family conflict, and deviant behavior remained unclear. For this reason, this study intends correlating supervisors¡¦ abusive supervision behaviors and subordinates¡¦ work-family conflict with deviant behavior. In this study, abusive supervision is the independent variable; Deviant behavior is the dependent variable; Work-family conflict is the mediator. Besides, we defined social support (family-supportive policies, perceived organizational work¡Vfamily support, and perceived coworker support) as a moderator not only between supervisors¡¦ abusive supervision behaviors and subordinates¡¦ work-family conflict, but also between work-family conflict and deviant behavior. The subjects of the study who are selected by convenience sampling and the data are collected using dyad-approach are common enterprise employees from manufacturing, high-tech industry, and service industry in Taiwan. Two hundred and twelve effective questionnaires (106 supervisor-subordinate dyadic data) of the survey are retrieved. Moreover, the analytic tools such as descriptive analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), linear structural relation, hierarchical regression analysis, and sobel test are utilized to analyze the result of the survey and to verify the assumptions of the study. The findings of the study are as follows. (1) Abusive supervision correlates positively with work-family conflict. (2) Work-family conflict also has significantly positive correlation with deviant behavior. (3) Mediating effect of work-family conflict is significant. (4) Family-supportive policies moderate the relationship between Abusive supervision and work-family conflict. The findings highly support the hypothesis I made, and also testify some researcher¡¦s suggestions. Further from this research, I also offer some suggestions for management and practice to the issue and following related research.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1985.

This is a study of a child abuse panic. The events that brought Martensville, Saskatchewan to national and international attention in 1992 were similar in many respects to other panics concerning multiple allegations of child abuse that occurred in the Western world in the 1980s and 1990s. The methodology of the study included a review of descriptions of child abuse panics published in the mass media and in books and journal articles. Interviews were conducted with residents of Martensville, child advocates, reporters, investigators, officers of the court, expert witnesses and several of the accused. Five theoretical accounts or explanations of the events were examined in detail: Satanic ritual abuse, recovered memories, false memory syndrome, hysterical epidemic and moral panic. These accounts were considered in light of broader sociological theory. It was determined that the moral panic account provided greater explanatory potential than the other accounts. Moral panics are seen as a form of distorted communication that was typical of mass media treatment of certain conditions in the 1980s and 1990s under which allegations of child abuse targeted a group of people who were defined as a threat. Feminist theory, the concept of risk society and Habermas' theory of communicative action were examined to provide insights into ways of addressing and mitigating the panic and harm that occurred in Martensville. Conclusions and policy considerations centre on the need for training of professions involved in the investigation and response to child abuse, public education within a framework of communicative rationality and, ultimately, reclamation of the public sphere with attendant expansion of opportunities for face-to-face communication in public decision-making.

Despite the number of studies conducted regarding violence amongst youth, there is still much to be learned. The present study was designed in an attempt to better understand the nature of delinquent adolescent behaviour. The main objectives of this study are as follows: to understand the pattern and distribution of delinquent behaviour, including violence, vandalism, and theft among Lethbridge, Alberta's high school population, to identify possible factors that may play a role in one's likelihood of engaging in such behaviours, and finally, to contribute to Micheal Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi's (G&H) 'General Theory of Crime' (1990) by reconceptuahzing the concept of self-control. The present study includes 182 youth from two Lethbridge public high schools. Of the 182 respondents, 84 are female, and 98 are male. The youth involved in this study range from 15 to 19 years of age. Through the use of a questionnaire, a number of key variables are addressed. These variables are: empathy, impulse control, social bonds, and their relationship with violence, theft, and vandalism. The results of this study show that empathy and impulse control are significant predictors of violence and vandalism, while impulsive behaviour was found to be the only statistically significant predictor of theft among the variables included in the multiple regression analysis. Although social bonds were hypothesized to be a major predictor of all three delinquent behaviours included in this study, the results did not support such an assumption. It is suggested that perhaps the concept of social bonds was inadequately measured for use in this study. Future research using a better measure of social bonds, may find it to be a significant predictor of violence, vandalism, and theft. / vii, 100 leaves ; 29 cm.

This study examined the effectiveness of the LEAST Approach to Discipline with junior high school teachers having behaviorally disordered pupils in their classes. The sample consisted of twenty junior high school teachers who were paired on the basis of quantity and problem severity of behaviorally disordered pupils in their classes. Each matched pair was split and randomly assigned to the experimental and control group. Treatment consisted of eight hours of training in the LEAST approach. Subsequently, each experimental teacher was observed in class and given feedback regarding his application of the LEAST approach. The control group received no treatment. Following treatment, a two-month data collection period ensued. During this time data was collected for both groups on seven dependent variables. Specifically these were (1) teacher deviancy management skills, (2) pupil perception of the classroom environment, (3) pupil compliance, (4) office referrals, (5) teacher-parent conferences, (6) pupil absences and (7) non completed assignments.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the employees’ in the forensic mental health service conceptions about deviant and normal behavior, and also if they can recognize the explanations for deviant behavior in the central theories. Furthermore it is examined how respondents’ perceptions of how the labeling, stigmatization and exclusion that affect people that show deviant behavior can be counteracted. Eight interviews have been conducted. Theoretical bases in this study are labeling theories, differential association theory, social control theory and techniques of neutralization. The results are composed of three themes that describe the characteristic features of deviant and normal behavior. These themes are: Majority paves the way for how a behavior is considered, Basic conditions in a human life and Lack of knowledge as an underlying factor in people’s uncertainty. Results emphasize that the respondents are aware of the concepts of normal behavior that exist in society. These conceptions are a human being’s possession of a job, a home and a family. Legality is another aspect that is considered to be something that normal people do. These conceptions result in how respondents interpret deviant behavior. Deviant behavior occurs when people are not obedient to laws and standards in a society or a group. Interviewees thought that all theories in this study were a simplification of reality because people that show deviant behavior could hold other things responsible for their actions. The theories could not affect how a person or a society would look at people that show deviant behavior. In real life people have to take responsibility for their own actions. Deviant behavior may contribute to or be a consequence of stigmatization, labeling and exclusion. These concepts will always exist therefore people have to bear responsibility for their actions themselves. / Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka vilka föreställningar om avvikande och normalt beteende som de anställda inom den rättspsykiatriska vården har samt om de kan känna igen förklaringar till avvikande beteende i de centrala teorierna. Dessutom undersöks intervjupersonernas uppfattningar om hur stämpling, stigmatisering och utanförskap, som kan drabba avvikande personer, ska kunna motverkas. Åtta kriminalvårdare intervjuades och fick frågor om avvikande beteende, stämplingsteorier, teorier om differentiella associationer, sociala band och neutraliseringstekniker. En tematisk analys gav tre olika teman som anger karaktäristiska drag för avvikande och normalt beteende. Dessa teman är: Majoriteten lägger grund för hur ett beteende betraktas, Grundläggande förutsättningar i en människas liv samt Okunskap som underliggande faktor till osäkerhet hos människor. Resultat visar på att intervjupersonerna är medvetna om de föreställningar om normalt beteende som finns i samhället. Det uppvisas av människor som har ett arbete, ett hem och en familj. Laglydighet är en annan aspekt som betraktas vara någonting normala människor gör. Utifrån detta avgör intervjupersonerna när avvikande beteende uppvisas. Det händer när människor inte förhåller sig till normer och lagar i ett samhälle eller en grupp. Intervjupersonerna tyckte att samtliga teorier var en förenkling av verkligheten då avvikare kunde förflytta ansvar för sina handlingar på dessa. Men teorierna kunde inte påverka hur en människa eller ett samhälle skulle betrakta avvikare. I det verkliga livet skall människor ta ansvar för sina handlingar och inte skylla ifrån sig. Avvikande beteende kan bidra till eller vara en konsekvens av stämpling, stigmatisering och utanförskap. Dessa begrepp kommer alltid att existera men det är människorna själva som skall bära ansvar för sina handlingar.