Denna studie undersöker vilka upplevelser och erfarenheter som påverkat individer när de tagit beslutet att lämna en kriminell livsstil; och vilka faktorer som varit avgörande i förändringsprocessen till ett liv utan kriminalitet. Kvalitativa intervjuer har använts som metod för att besvara frågeställningarna. Fem personer med koppling till organisationen KRIS har intervjuats och resultatet har analyserats utifrån en teoretisk referensram bestående av Laub och Sampsons (2006) definition av begreppet turning points; Paternoster och Bushways (2009) identitetsteori om avhopp från kriminalitet; och Emirbayer och Mishes (1998) teoretiska beskrivning av begreppet human agency. Resultatet visar att alla intervjupersonerna påverkats av crystalization of discontent och drivkraften att undvika the feared possible self (Paternoster & Bushway, 2009) när de beslutat att lämna kriminaliteten. Den egna viljan beskrivs av intervjupersonerna som den mest avgörande faktorn i förändringsprocessen. Andra faktorer som varit betydande är socialt stöd och att hålla fast vid nya rutiner kopplade till livet utan kriminalitet. Slutsatserna i uppsatsen är att det sällan räcker med enskilda faktorer, ofta är det ett samspel mellan flera faktorer som leder till förändring. / The purpose of the present study is to identify events and experiences that influences individuals to make the decision to desist from a criminal life style; and to identify crucial and important factors in the process of desisting from a criminal life style. The used method is qualitative interviews. Five persons connected to KRIS (an organization with the aim to help desisters) were interviewed and the results were analyzed through a theoretic framework consisting Laub and Sampson ́s (2006) definition of the concept of turning points; Paternoster and Bushway ́s (2009) identity theory of desistance from crime; and Emirbayer and Mishe ́s theoretical definition of the concept of human agency. The result shows that all interviewees were affected by crystalization of discontent and the motive to avoid feared possible self (Paternoster & Bushway, 2009) when they decided to desist from criminality. The own will was identified as the most crucial factor in the process of criminal desistance. Social support and the importance of hanging on to new routines were mentioned as other important factors in the process. The conclusion of the study is that it is seldom enough with single factors as solutions to the problems of this study. A successful desistance process is often a result of an interplay between several factors.

The aim of this dissertation is to shed light on how life can turn out for individuals with long term social assistance and afterwards when it has ceased. The primary objective of the dissertation is to study the changes that have occurred during the life course and the impact of those changes on the life course at large. A key question of this dissertation is the development of selfsufficiency and work-life patterns in a longitudinal perspective. The dissertation consists of a longitudinal study based on qualitative interviews with an interval of 20 years. The empirical data is composed of interviews with 11 recipients of social assistance – seven of which have been interviewed again in 2008/2009. A life course perspective is employed in the data analysis as a comprehensive approach and analytical tool. Other analytical approaches are related to the impact of the welfare state on the life course and to the term marginality. The situation of the interviewed group regarding self-sufficiency, employment and social conditions is viewed from a one-year perspective, a 20- year perspective and a life course perspective. The different time perspectives generated widely diverse pictures and nowledge. Not everyone worked at the point of the last interview but all were in a better social and economical position. No one remained on social assistance. One conclusion is that the notion of social problems being reinforced and exacerbated over time is simplistic. Another conclusion is that it appears that social assistance and social services have little importance from a life course perspective. A concluding result is that cross-sectional studies of individuals in a vulnerable situation are of limited value. A brief look at a person’s life does not say much of what the rest of his or her life will look like. Keywords: Life course, long term social assistance, social welfare services, human agency, timing, social integration, notions of social problems, welfare state, marginality.

Using Krumboltz's (2009) Happenstance Learning Theory as a theoretical framework, the three constructs of human agency, hardiness, and proactive personality were identified for their effectiveness in facilitating proaction and resilience during transitional and stressful circumstances. The purpose of this study was to explore whether human agency, hardiness, and proactive personality predict a successful college-to-career transition, measured by the confidence and readiness factors on the Career Transition Inventory (Heppner, 1991; Heppner, Multon, & Johnston, 1994). Linear regression analyses found that each of the study's independent variables predicted both the confidence and readiness factors. In addition, a stepwise regression analysis selected proactive personality as the strongest predictor of readiness. With proactive personality in the model, the stepwise analysis chose hardiness as the next strongest predictor of readiness. Proactive personality and hardiness together explained 38.2% of the variance for readiness. When a stepwise analysis was run with the three independent variables and confidence as the dependent variable, hardiness was selected as the strongest predictor of confidence. With hardiness in the model, the stepwise analysis chose general self-efficacy as the next strongest predictor of readiness. Hardiness and general self-efficacy together explained 28.1% of the variance for confidence.

This research adopts a multi-scale approach to examine the patterns, processes, and perceptions of landscape change within the core and buffer zone of Huascaran National Park, Peru. Within the park’s boundaries are the extensively glaciated Cordillera Blanca Mountains, where runoff from glaciers feeds into lakes, streams, and wetlands to provide hydrologic resources to populations on the periphery for agriculture, as well as hydropower to populations in distant urban areas. Inhabitants living on the periphery have livelihoods that are dependant upon land and natural resources found within the park’s core and buffer zone, while governance institutions mediate access and resource use. Landscape transformations occurring within and around the park are a result of human agency, biophysical change, and global climate change. A suite of qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used to investigate the coupled social and ecological dynamics of conservation, land use, and implications of climate change in Huascaran National Park. The principal objectives of this research were to assess the spatial and temporal patterns of landscape change using land-use and land-cover data from remotely sensed imagery and to examine the role of institutions on resource governance at multiple scales. A hybrid classification method was used to classify Landsat (TM and ETM+) satellite data for the years of 1987 and 2001. Hypotheses regarding the spatial and temporal dynamics of land-cover change were tested. Results indicate that the percent of land cover from the woodland, cropland, and snow and ice classes were reduced internal to the core of the national park, while the land-cover class of shrubland increased. Interviews with 143 informants revealed perceptions of landscape change and narratives of socio-political land use change. Interview data corroborated the findings of reduced land cover in the snow and ice class. Data also demonstrated that legacies of land tenure and governance are essential for evaluating the adaptive capacity of different institutions and communities confronting conditions of climate change. This research contributes to literature on dynamics and processes of landscape change by bridging analytical frameworks from landscape ecology, cultural and political ecology, and land change science and contributing to human dimensions of global change research. / text

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of the social field as described by Pierre Bourdieu as well as to explore the possibility of creating a more focused and tailored set of conditions in the form of a model to repurpose the field theory to more clearly be applicable to bilateral negotiations. The methodological approach is conceptual analysis based on the epistemology of critical realism. The supporting theories for the approach are a combination of systemic, chaos and complexity theory while the fundaments for the implementation of the methodological approach are the four main concepts in Bourdieu’s theory of the social field:  the field, habitus, illusio and symbolic capital. One of the main points of repurposing this specific dynamic is to explicitly allow for deliberate human agency within the field. Analytical data consists purely of the secondary type. This essay is not empirically based but rather theoretical and abstract. The paper is founded on the basic principles of macrosociology and presumes social agency where appropriate. This paper focuses on creating a tentative framework model based on repurposed concepts derived from Bourdieu. The results are arguably interesting but are mostly limited to affecting further development of this tentative model and prefacing application of it through attempting to implement it in an analytical manner on empirical data.

This dissertation examines how institutions generate, teach, and authorize normative performances through texts and/as pedagogical practices. Through an analysis of the University of South Florida’s mandatory reporting policy, training, and Title IX Incident Report Form, this project examines how institutions construct and privilege certain values, performances, and individuals as means of generating the legal compliance of the institution independent. These practices are valued independent of how such compliance enables and limits the relationship between students and teachers. I argue the University’s texts and pedagogical practices serve to substantiate, authorize, and perform the materialization of certain privileges and the normative standards for the performances of mandatory reporters – those specifically designated “responsible employees,” which includes graduate, teaching, and research assistants supervising or teaching possible victims. I further rely on critical communication pedagogy as a means of analyzing USF’s practices and calling for an altered pedagogy that better accounts for the subjectivity of individuals not previously recognized by/through current institutional practices. While USF’s mandatory reporting policy is merely one institutional mandate, the practices expressed and outlined in this research are indicative or the practices of institutions more broadly. Understanding those practices is essential to recognizing the ways institutional and individual actors relate and interact.

This thesis investigates how digitalisation impacts school as a place to work and learn byexploring how a few teachers experience digital tools and platforms in their daily work andteaching, both when reflecting upon current state and thinking about the future. A widerperspective of digitalisation in society and education is added by interviewing a learningstrategist as well as including other material covering the current debate. The analysis is guidedby six futural orientations (anticipation, expectation, speculation, potentiality, hope anddestiny) shown in the activities, leaning on a theoretical framework of anthropology of future,work and technology, human agency and intersubjectivity, humanity in a digital age as well asteacher’s role and identities. Hence uncovering examples of how lifeworlds are created andevolve in a school setting, human agency and shifting identities as a teacher manifesting itselfwhen managing conflicting priorities or faulty processes, and how to make sense of beinghuman in a digital age with an awareness of digital wellbeing.

i Sanders (1977:114) contends that “[s]in comes only when man actually disobeys; if he were not to disobey he would not be a sinner.” This thesis was thus motivated to critique Sanders’s contention in relation to sin and human accountability in Second Temple Judaism. Before delving into various understandings of sin and human accountability of Second Temple Judaism, in Chapter 2, I deal with the Weltanschauung of Second Temple Judaism. It was observed that Israel’s covenantal history is far from discontinuous with creation at a time of severe theological, sociological, and political plights in spite of the presence of sin and evil. In Chapters 3, I deal with how the authors of 1 Enoch and Jubilees understood the presence of sin and evil. Even though the Watcher story in these Enochic traditions serves to attribute the origin of sin to the fallen angels, it was observed the Watcher story cannot quench Second Temple Jews’ uneasiness in relation to the presence of sin and evil. In Chapter 4, I deal with Qumran literature. By focusing on the term yetzer ra both in pre-Qumran and in Qumran writings, it is worth noting that Qumran literature shows a tendency to realize the severity of the sinfulness of humanity in a complicated and radicalized manner. When looking at first century Jewish (4 Ezra and 2 Baruch) and early Christian (Romans and James) literature in Chapter 5, it was observed that the authors of 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch came to develop further pessimistic anthropologies distinct from their predecessors in the Second Temple period. However, for them, a possibility is open for the few righteous remnants to obey divine commandments. It can be said that their understandings of sin and human accountability appear to be synergistic. For Paul and James, however, the paradigm of the relationship between divine agency and human agency is shifted from synergism to monergism in terms of the Jesus Christ event. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Old Testament Studies / PhD / Unrestricted

Few studies regarding treatment seeking behaviour related to Malaria have been conducted in Uganda, and most of the studies regarding use of mosquito nets that have been conducted are quantitative. There is thus a need for qualitative studies for a deeper understanding of the complex issue of coping with malaria in a resource limited setting. The aim of this study is to understand sociocultural and structural factors influencing the coping with malaria in rural Uganda. Focus is on the local experiences, perceptions and hardships regarding seeking treatment for malaria and preventative measures like the use of mosquito nets. A theoretical framework based on Political ecology of health, with a focus on human agency, is used to analyse these issues. The village Nyakasojo in Kasese district was selected for a field study. The main source of information was open-ended interviews conducted in March 2020. The study showed that the main reason for not using mosquito nets was lack of access to nets and easily torn nets, rather than unwillingness to use mosquito nets. Further, the study showed that the unequal access to healthcare in combination with livelihood vulnerability forces people to wait before seeking treatment and/or taking half doses of antimalarials, probably leading to unnecessary malaria transmission. A more holistic approach to malaria control would be beneficial, including the aspect of treatment in addition to the present narrower focus on prevention.

Nørrebro är Köpenhamns (Danmark) mest befolkningstäta stadsdel. Det är även stadsdelen med betydligt minst offentlig grönyta per person. Offentliga grönytor är fundamentala komponenter i urbana ekosystem (World Health Organization, 2019). De är bland annat viktiga för den fysiska och mentala hälsan, hjälper att filtrera skadlig luftförorening, skapar en tillflyktsplats från stadens buller och är en trygg plats för social interaktion och rekreation (ibid.). Trots detta har den lilla parken Folkets Park i Indre Nørrebro varit en återkommande källa till konflikter mellan Köpenhamns kommun, som länge ville bygga bostadshus på ytan, och invånarna i närområdet, som har kämpat för att bevara sin enda lilla gröna yta.Denna uppsats ska undersöka Folkets Park i Nørrebro där fyra manifestationer mellan 1971 och 2014 granskas med fokus på människans rätt till staden. Mänsklig agens och de sociala, politiska och fysiska strukturer som påverkar denna agens analyseras i förhållande till invånarnas kamp för att få utforma sin egna stadsmiljö. Genom att granska fyra manifestationer under Folkets Park ständigt pågående liv kommer vi utforska parkens varierande kvalitéer och de relationer invånarna i området har och har haft till parken. Detta för att se hur olika aktörers handlingar förhåller sig till och påverkas av de socio-politiska strukturer som berör Folkets Park. Även de fysiska strukturer, som är i ständig förändring i Folkets Park, och hur strukturerna påverkas av de olika aktörernas handlingar, analyseras för att öka en platsspecifik förståelse av Folkets Park. Tillgång till gröna rum ska vara en mänsklig rättighet, men till vilken grad och för vilka människor dessa rättighet faktiskt gäller är inte alltid tydligt. / Nørrebro is the most populated borough in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is also the borough with by far the least amount of public green spaces per person. Public green spaces are fundamental components for urban ecosystems (World Health Organization, 2019). They are important for the physical and mental health, help filter out harmful air pollution, gives refuge from noise pollution and offers a safe place for social interaction and recreation (ibid.). Despite all this, the little park Folkets Park in Indre Nørrebro has been a recurring source of conflict between Copenhagen Municipality, who wanted to use the space for more housing, and the inhabitants in the area, who have fought to keep their one, small public green space.This thesis will examine Folkets Park in Nørrebro, where four manifestations between 1971 and 2014 will be considered, focusing on people’s right to the city. Human agency and the social, political and physical structures that affect that agency are analysed in relation to the inhabitants fight for the right to shape and reshape their own urban environment. By investigating four manifestations during Folkets Park’s continuing life, we will examine the park’s varying qualities and the relationship the inhabitants have and have had to the park. This is done in order to understand how actions by the different actors relate to and are affected by the socio-political structures that influence Folkets Park. The physical structures, that are constantly changing and emerging in Folkets Park, and how these structures are affected by the actions of the different actors, is also analysed in order to further improve a site specific understanding of Folkets Park. Access to green spaces should be a human right, but to what degree and to which humans these rights actually apply isn’t always very clear.