Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / Until fairly recently studies of children as actively engaged in the production of meaning making in their social lives has been overlooked, ignored or received marginal attention within the contemporary social sciences (Caputo 1995). There has since however been considerable growth in literature dedicated to extending our understanding of childhood (Hardman 1973; Caputo 1995; Waksler 1996; Morss 2002; Korbin 2003; Sawyer 2002). This has resulted in an emergent sense of legitimacy and focus on the role of children "as active and creative social actors" in society, particularly in the field of anthropology of children (Reis, 2006) and the establishment of the 'new' sociology of childhood. The point of departure for these emergent theoretical frameworks concern the traditional devaluing of childhood and children's perspectives in favour of "...a recurring set of dominant ideas within political and academic domains that draws a generational boundary between adults and children, in the process restricting children to subordinate and protected social roles" (Wyness 200:1 in Smith 2009:253). According to James & James (2004:76 in Smith 2009:252) law is a centrally important mediating influence in the social construction of childhood as vulnerable passive bystanders. This resonates with Moses who states that the rights prioritised for children within the South African Constitution are "protection-oriented conceiving children as vulnerable citizens rather than citizens with agency" (2008:329). Furthermore, according to Moses (2008:333) the conception of children in South African policy and that which underlies national service delivery, belies or contradicts perceptions of children as "active, meaning-makers, employing a range of coping strategies". This research therefore explores the representation of children and childhood within the Children‘s Amendment Act (41 of 2007); that is whether they are displayed as "active, meaning-making" citizens or passive vulnerable bystanders; and seeks to contrast that representation with the reality of children's worldviews, decision-making capabilities in their social lives in an attempt to highlight children as citizens with agency. The study used a qualitative exploratory approach which employed a range of qualitative research tools. Data was collected through a policy analysis, research workshops and focus 2 group discussions. Purposive sampling was used to compile a child sample composed of nine girls and ten boys. A social constructionist framework was used to thematically analyse the data. The results suggest that there are two general representations of children and childhood within the Act (41 of 2007); namely "the vulnerable child" and "the child as citizen and agent". The study offers recommendations for further research and improvements for service provision directed toward children, child welfare and childcare.

<p>The aim of this essay is to try to gain understanding and to get a more profound knowledge of suicide. The questions at issue were 1) What empirical factors are mentioned in the research as possible to explain suicide. 2) Which theoretical perspectives are discussed in research concerning suicide. To answer our questions at issue we carried out a selective research overview with a qualitative perspective. The primary documents that has been the foundation of this essay is constituted by nine of the leading researchers publications in the area of suicidology. The questions of issue were analyzed and answered on the basis of social constructionist theory. The research findings showed that suicide is a complex area with no single answers. There are several empirical variables that the researches describe as factors that might influence suicidal behavior and the research has shown patterns in certain risk groups. These variables interact in dynamic processes and shall not be regarded on a one to one basis. The theoretical perspectives that are discussed in research are divided up in three main areas; Sociological, Psychological and Neurobiological & Genetic theories. Although all theories have their own approach and explanation to the phenomena of suicide the research findings are moving towards a more multidisciplinary approach. The social constructionist perspective of this essay gives the reader a new dimension to the phenomena. Empirical and theoretical findings can be seen as constructions aroused from the interaction among people in our society which we all are a part of maintaining.</p>

<p>Between April 1997 and November 1999, I followed eight socially excluded female drug users in an attempt to describe their lives and living conditions. The study employs an ethnographic approach with the focus being directed at the specific woman and her life in relation to the social context where this life is lived.</p><p>The study’s objective has been to describe the lives and living conditions of the eight drug-using women, as well as the extent of the opportunities available to them, as being determined by mechanisms of social exclusion. Their lives are understood on the basis of a feminist and social constructionist perspective where perceptions of ‘the drug-abusing woman’ are regarded as the result of constructions of gender and deviance. The theoretical perspectives proceeds from the idea that one is not born a woman but rather becomes one. The fundamental idea is that women become women by means of processes of femininisation, in the context of which certain ways of interpreting and presenting oneself as a woman are regarded as good and others as bad. Our images of ‘the female drug addict’ are based on how we define and interpret deviance and on the cultural and social thought and behaviour patterns we ascribe to people on the basis of bodily differences. It is images of ‘the good woman’ that defines what we regard as characteristic of ‘the bad woman’ and vice versa.</p><p>The findings are organised into three main topics: femininity, living conditions and social control. The main findings are: The women described themselves as women by relating to normative messages about how women “are and should be”, and their drug use constituted a means of coping with life from their social position. Their life revolved to a large extent around money via a constant struggle to find enough to cover the rent, food and other basic necessities. And finally, how the women’s relations to societal institutions were formed by their social position as ‘female drug addicts’ and how the asymmetry of these relations produced certain fixed patterns of action for the parties involved.</p>

Between April 1997 and November 1999, I followed eight socially excluded female drug users in an attempt to describe their lives and living conditions. The study employs an ethnographic approach with the focus being directed at the specific woman and her life in relation to the social context where this life is lived. The study’s objective has been to describe the lives and living conditions of the eight drug-using women, as well as the extent of the opportunities available to them, as being determined by mechanisms of social exclusion. Their lives are understood on the basis of a feminist and social constructionist perspective where perceptions of ‘the drug-abusing woman’ are regarded as the result of constructions of gender and deviance. The theoretical perspectives proceeds from the idea that one is not born a woman but rather becomes one. The fundamental idea is that women become women by means of processes of femininisation, in the context of which certain ways of interpreting and presenting oneself as a woman are regarded as good and others as bad. Our images of ‘the female drug addict’ are based on how we define and interpret deviance and on the cultural and social thought and behaviour patterns we ascribe to people on the basis of bodily differences. It is images of ‘the good woman’ that defines what we regard as characteristic of ‘the bad woman’ and vice versa. The findings are organised into three main topics: femininity, living conditions and social control. The main findings are: The women described themselves as women by relating to normative messages about how women “are and should be”, and their drug use constituted a means of coping with life from their social position. Their life revolved to a large extent around money via a constant struggle to find enough to cover the rent, food and other basic necessities. And finally, how the women’s relations to societal institutions were formed by their social position as ‘female drug addicts’ and how the asymmetry of these relations produced certain fixed patterns of action for the parties involved.

Tidigare forskning kring arbetslöshet har visat på en mängd negativa effekter för den arbetslösa individen. Det behövs fler kvalitativa studier på detta område, eftersom de flesta tidigare studier är utförda med kvantitativa ansatser. Våra syften med studien är att ”nå en förståelse för hur yngre långtidsarbetslösa upplever sina möjligheter att få ett arbete”. Samt ”nå en förståelse av den arbetslösas identitet”. Vi använder en socialkonstruktionistisk utgångspunkt i tolkningen av identitetsbegreppet. Vi har valt tre socialpsykologiska begrepp för att analysera våra resultat, dessa är: stigma, utanförskap samt makt. Materialet har insamlats genom intervjuer med långtidsarbetslösa som befinner sig på AMA arbetsmarknad, vilket gett oss en mängd upplevelser av arbetslöshet. Denna studie har baserats på en hermeneutisk metod. Några centrala resultat är att respondenterna känner sig ekonomiskt begränsade, samt upplever ett utanförskap och skam. De visar att arbetet fortfarande är en stor del av identiteten. Trots stora påfrestningar för den arbetslösa individen visar vår studie på att yngre arbetslösa kan uppvisa en optimism inför framtiden.

The aim of this essay is to try to gain understanding and to get a more profound knowledge of suicide. The questions at issue were 1) What empirical factors are mentioned in the research as possible to explain suicide. 2) Which theoretical perspectives are discussed in research concerning suicide. To answer our questions at issue we carried out a selective research overview with a qualitative perspective. The primary documents that has been the foundation of this essay is constituted by nine of the leading researchers publications in the area of suicidology. The questions of issue were analyzed and answered on the basis of social constructionist theory. The research findings showed that suicide is a complex area with no single answers. There are several empirical variables that the researches describe as factors that might influence suicidal behavior and the research has shown patterns in certain risk groups. These variables interact in dynamic processes and shall not be regarded on a one to one basis. The theoretical perspectives that are discussed in research are divided up in three main areas; Sociological, Psychological and Neurobiological &amp; Genetic theories. Although all theories have their own approach and explanation to the phenomena of suicide the research findings are moving towards a more multidisciplinary approach. The social constructionist perspective of this essay gives the reader a new dimension to the phenomena. Empirical and theoretical findings can be seen as constructions aroused from the interaction among people in our society which we all are a part of maintaining.

This thesis employs a social constructionist perspective to analyze constructions of the International Criminal Court (ICC), specifically (1) the notion of impunity; (2) the presence of a critical analysis; and (3) the connection between state support/opposition and favourable/negative portrayals of the Court. The theory chapter focuses on the propaganda model’s main premise that “media serve the interests of that state … framing their reporting and analysis in a manner supportive of established privilege and limiting debate accordingly” (Herman & Chomsky, 1998, p.32). A thematic qualitative content analysis and several tools of grounded theory deconstructed 1,982 articles collected from The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Overall, the newspapers contained a high level of support for the propaganda model’s main assertions. Some of these conversations were quite limited and/or biased; specifically, American newspapers manipulated debates to justify American opposition to the Court.

With the increasing number of adoptees in Sweden, so has the amount of literature regarding different aspects of adoption. The aim of this study is to explore the construction of adoptees in children's literature. It takes on a social constructionism view, by regarding language as a narrative tool in which human beings construct versions of different phenomenon. By exploring the different discourses in the data within the context adoption, we can identify different versions of "the adopted child" and their needs as it is constructed in the literature. Also, by putting them in a bigger context, we are allowed to see the social structures and the discursive conditions that allow a certain child perspective of "the adopted child" to take place. Therefore, this study also explores aspects and discourses within the context adoption such as ethnicity, race and adoptees relations to the past.

No description available.

Education about and for the home has been part of the Swedish education system for over one hundred years, and Home and Consumer Studies (HCS) has been compulsory for all pupils since the common nine-year school system was introduced in 1962. For all this time food has been a central theme, however we know very little of what food means in this context. The aim of this thesis was to seek to understand the construction of food in HCS. This thesis consists of four papers that explore food in HCS from the perspective of teachers and pupils, the role of the classroom and how food in HCS is part of a larger cultural context. Observations and focus group interviews were used to collect data. The material consists of field notes from 13 days in three HCS classrooms and transcripts of focus group interviews with 25 HCS-teachers and 20 pupils. The analytical methods used were based on social constructionist assumptions which were supplemented by theories on culture, space and spatiality. Results show that teachers constructed both pupils’ homes and society in general as deficient in relation to health. Their role, as public health commissioners, was to educate pupils about food on issues such as health and sustainability. Pupils relied on their personal experiences from home to make sense of food in HCS. To them, home was the authentic place for food where everyday life took place. Food in HCS on the other hand was de-authenticised and sometimes hard to make sense of. This meant that there was a limited shared understanding between pupils and teachers. A spatial analysis of the HCS classroom as a learning space for food showed that past ideologies and traditional power geometries were built into the physical layout and social relationships constructing the room. Food in HCS was found to reflect cultural values of the surrounding society at the same time as a specific HCS cuisine emerged. Food in HCS was thus constructed as contested in interaction between food, pupils, teachers and classroom as well as in relation to a wider context.